Migrant Christmas

     Mary was riding on a burro alongside the border wall during the Migrant Posada in Nogales on December 14.  The posada is a procession that reenacts the journey of Mary and Joseph seeking shelter for the birth of Jesus.  We stopped at three stations along the border where we listened to the migrants describe the rejection and abuse they had suffered during their journey.  Mary and Joseph, and the migrants, were finally welcomed inside at the Kino Border Initiative “comedor” (meal program) at the end of the procession.

     Julio was still in shock when I met him at the comedor that morning.  He told me that he had been walking through the Food City parking lot in south Tucson at 6 A.M. to meet a friend for a roofing job.  A policeman stopped him and said, “Show me your I.D.”  Julio replied that he didn’t have it and he was then frisked and ordered into the patrol car.  The policeman called the Border Patrol and Julio was “repatriated” to Nogales a couple hours later. 

     Julio lived in the U.S. for 15 years and is married to a U.S. citizen.  He said, “I used to drink and use drugs, but then I found God, and my life changed…I don’t understand why this happened to me today.”  He doesn’t know anyone in Nogales and he had no idea what he was going to do, not even in the next moment.

     I met Sergio the following morning as I was hiking along one of the migrant trails north of the border.  He told me that he lived for five years in the U.S. and has a spouse and a three-year-old son in New York.  He had been deported and was trying to return to his home and family. 

     Sergio had been walking for two days and he said it was very cold at night – the temperature had dropped to 28 degrees the previous day.  I gave him some warm clothes, a blanket, food and water; and told him “I hope you’re able to be with your son for Christmas.”

"We want family unity for the children of immigrants"

The Dream 9 return home

      The “Dream 9” activists returned on August 8 to the site where they had been handcuffed and placed in detention just 17 days before.  They stood in front of the border crossing in Nogales with their fists in the air and a banner that stated, “We’re Home – Families Beyond Borders.”  An international campaign won their release the day before from the Eloy Detention Center which is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America. 

     Lizbeth, Lulu and Marco traveled from the U.S. to Mexico last month to visit their families and return with the other six.  They all presented themselves at the border crossing on July 22 and requested to be allowed re-entry to the U.S. on humanitarian grounds. 

     Their courageous action raised awareness about the hundreds of thousands of families that have been torn apart by the Obama administration’s aggressive deportation policies.  It was also a bold demand that people who have been deported should be allowed to return home to the U.S.  Obama has now deported more people than any other president in history – 1.7 million.

     Eight of the activists would have qualified for the DREAM Act which proposed legal residency for people who arrived in the country as minors and completed high school in the U.S.  The bill passed the House of Representatives in 2010 but failed in the Senate.    

     Adriana left the U.S. last year because she wanted to pursue a college degree and couldn’t afford to do so as an undocumented student in Arizona.  She spent seven months living and working at the San Juan Bosco migrant shelter here in Nogales.

     Ceferino went back to Mexico because he needed ear surgery that would have cost $21,000 in the U.S.  He tried to return to the U.S. in June.

     Luis left in 2011 after the DREAM Act failed.  He tried to cross back into the U.S. four times last year.

     Maria started college but could no longer afford it and returned to Mexico last year.  She had to put off her education here in order to work and sustain her family.

     Claudia was deported after her husband was detained while he was driving to work.

     All of the Dream 9 filed petitions for political asylum after they were denied permission to re-enter the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.  The immigration authorities determined that they each had a “credible fear” of being harmed or killed if sent back to Mexico.  They were released on parole and will continue to fight for their right, and the right of hundreds of thousands of others like them, to be home in the U.S.

     They have overcome the fear of deportation and are, as they shouted at the border crossing, “Undocumented, Unafraid!”

     

Just wanting to go home

     Thirteen year-old Yamil entered the United States for the first time in seven years with his mother and grandmother yesterday here in Nogales.  He and his grandmother Elvia were detained by Customs and Border Protection for five hours.  His mother Claudia was handcuffed and arrested.

     Three undocumented youth who have been living in the U.S. recently traveled to Mexico so that they could attempt to return yesterday with Claudia and four other people who had been long-time residents of the U.S.  Claudia was at the head of the group as they entered the pedestrian border crossing and requested to be allowed re-entry on humanitarian grounds.  She and the others were committed to taking this action as a bold challenge to current deportation policies. 

     The Obama administration has now deported 1.7 million people – more than any other president in the history of the country.  If the current rate continues, Obama will have deported more people than all of the previous presidents combined.   

     Elvia told me that her husband and brother were killed in Durango, Mexico in 1988.  She received threats and fled to the U.S. with her four children when Claudia was just 13 years-old.  They eventually moved to Wichita, Kansas where Yamil was born in 2000.

     Claudia told us “I feel like Dorothy (in the Wizard of Oz).  My life was hit by a tornado and I just want to go home.”  Claudia’s husband was detained while he was driving to work in Wichita.  She was then detained while acting as his interpreter and they were both placed in deportation proceedings. 

     The immigration judge said that Yamil, who was five, “could survive in Mexico.”  He has been seen by a therapist to treat his depression. Claudia told us that he recently asked her, “When are we going to get our life back?” 

     I talked with Yamil yesterday while we were waiting to find out what would happen with his mother and the others.  I asked him when he moved to Mexico and he replied “January 1, 2006.”  Yamil told me that he wants to go back to Wichita with his mother, and then have his father and their dog join them.  He likes the peacefulness of Wichita and that his parents could find work there. 

     Yamil loves soccer and he plays goalie.  His favorite team is the United States and he will be rooting for them again in the next World Cup.  Yamil and Claudia went to the U.S. match against Uzbekistan in the Under 17 World Cup at the Torreon stadium in 2011.  Claudia told us “No one even knew where Uzbekistan is located but they were all rooting for them against the U.S.”  Yamil was one of the few people that supported the U.S. and was disappointed when they lost.

     Elvia took Yamil to have his first hamburger back in the U.S. and he returned with a big smile on his face.  Unfortunately, that smile disappeared an hour later when we learned that Claudia and the others were being sent to the Eloy Detention Center. 

     This is the first time that a group of long-time U.S. residents (who are technically Mexican nationals) have attempted to return to the U.S. by petitioning for humanitarian parole.  Since that petition was denied, they are now applying for asylum.  Claudia is very concerned about her safety if she’s deported back to Mexico.  Her family is again receiving threats and she and Yamil have spent most of the last year closed up inside their home.

     For the latest developments in this historic case, go to the National Immigrant Youth Alliance Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NationalImmigrantYouthAlliance  To take action, go to the Dream Activist web site: http://action.dreamactivist.org/bringthemhome

Claudia approaching the border crossing in her graduation gown (as a Dream activist)

Elvia and Yamil walking to the crossing

Yamil entering the U.S.

Yamil and Elvia after learning that Claudia and the others were being sent to the detention center

Dogcatchers for migrants

     I was driving along a dirt road, about five miles north of the border, when I saw two men sitting by the road.  “We’re lost and we want to turn ourselves in to the Border Patrol,” they told me as I stopped alongside them.

     They had walked two days from Nogales and Mario was not able to go any further.  “I’ve got diabetes and it’s affecting me,” he said.  His arms were scratched, his pants were torn, and he was having difficulty walking.

     Mario is 43 and his cousin Fernando is 19.  They’re from Mexico City and they had traveled three days by bus to get to Nogales. 

     There was no cell phone coverage so I drove them to the nearest paved road to wait for the Border Patrol.  It was already warm at 8 A.M. and it would reach 100 degrees that afternoon.  After just a few minutes, a Border Patrol truck came by and I flagged him down.  I explained that Mario and Fernando wanted to turn themselves in because they couldn’t go any further and that Mario had diabetes which was affecting him.

     Agent Stransky drove into the pull-out and parked about 20 feet away.  He got out of the truck, opened the door of the small enclosure on back, and yelled “Yo!” at Mario and Fernando.  He didn’t say another word to them as they walked to the truck, stepped up on the bumper, and stooped down to get inside.  There was no acknowledgement that Mario and Fernando were human beings and not stray dogs.  He then closed the door and quickly drove away. 

     The migrants call these Border Patrol trucks “dogcatchers.”  There’s a bench on both sides of the enclosure about 12 inches above the floor and the roof is very low - Mario and Fernando were both hunched over as we said good-bye.  There’s just one small window on the back door and another small window on the front.  If Stransky had been in an accident because of driving so rapidly, there were no safety devices that would have protected Mario and Fernando from being injured.

     The “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” that is being debated now in the senate calls for hiring another 3,500 border agents.  That will likely result in even more migrants being treated like stray dogs.

Mario and Fernando

Stransky's "dogcatcher"

March for José Antonio

     More than 200 people marched in Nogales on April 10 to commemorate the six month anniversary of the murder of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodriguez by the Border Patrol.  José was walking along International Street when a Border Patrol agent fired into Nogales, Sonora on the night of October 10.  The autopsy report was released in February and shows that José was shot once in the head and seven times in the back.

     José’s family installed a cross on the sidewalk where he was killed.  Father Ricardo blessed the cross and people placed flowers and candles there in remembrance of José.  

     The Border Patrol claims the agent fired in self-defense after rocks were thrown at agents who were pursuing two drug smugglers.  Their brief statement noted that the agent “discharged his service weapon” and “one of the suspects appeared to have been hit.”

     Isidro Alvarez was an eyewitness to the killing and he spoke at the press conference prior to the march.  He was walking behind José and heard gunshots and saw him fall.  Isidro did not see or hear any rocks being thrown. 

     There is a surveillance tower about 100 yards from where José was killed and the cameras would have recorded the shooting.  The F.B.I. is still investigating the case six months later.  “I want to know who they are” said Aracely, José’s mother.  “I want them arrested and I want justice.”

     The bipartisan group of eight senators announced their immigration reform bill on April 16.  It includes $3 billion to increase border surveillance, $1.5 billion to build more walls and fences, and funding to hire another 3,500 border agents.  This support for increased militarization of the border will likely result in more marches and vigils here in Nogales in the future.       

     

"Peace and Justice on the Border"

Father Ricardo

Aracely

Deporting José and Margarita to secure the border

     “When we see people like you we don’t run and hide,” said José when I sat beside him at the Grupos Beta migrant center in Nogales on March 22.  “When we see them with their backpacks, and at the beaches, we treat them well.”

     José is 19 years old and from the southern state of Chiapas.  He and two companions had traveled the entire length of Mexico and then crossed into Arizona.  They hiked for five days in the desert and they ran out of water and food after the first three days.  In their desperation, they walked into the town of Tubac and found a store where they bought drinks and food.

     “People ran away and hid,” said José.  “They looked at us like we were from a UFO.  Someone called us ‘Mexican motherfuckers’ and they called the Border Patrol.”

     “The agent shoved me to the ground, put my hands behind my back, and then put his boot on my neck.”  José lifted his shirt and showed me the large scratch on his side.

     “When we were in the prison, they threw the food at us like we were animals.  They just gave us a small, cold hamburger and a carton of juice.  They turned on the air conditioning (to make it cold) and we could only wear t-shirts.”

     José had been deported to Nogales at 11 P.M. the previous night.  There are people who prey on migrants here and dropping them at the border late at night puts them at risk of being assaulted, robbed and extorted.

     “I don’t like America and I’m never going back,” concluded José.

     Margarita told me she was 22 years old and from the state of Guerrero when I talked with her at the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta on March 8.  She had traveled two days by bus to get to the border.  She and a cousin then hiked for a day in the Arizona desert and were arrested by the Border Patrol.  Margarita was separated from her cousin in the detention center and she had just been deported to Agua Prieta that morning.  Her cousin had been carrying her cell phone with all the numbers and she had no idea how to communicate with her family.

     Margarita had hoped to travel to Oxnard, California to work with her cousins in the strawberry fields.  I seem to be lacking the insight used by the government because I don’t see how a young woman who wants to spend her days stooped over picking strawberries poses a grave risk to national security.

     “Because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we can not allow people to pour into the U.S. undetected, undocumented, and unchecked,” said Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.  He failed to mention that not a single terrorist has been caught crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. 

     After being re-elected with the support of the Latino vote, Obama announced his plan for immigration reform.  “I believe it should include a continuation of the strong border security measures that we’ve taken because we have to secure our borders,” he said.  The Obama administration deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.  Making increased border security a top priority of reform will likely result in even more racism and brutality being used to protect freedom and democracy.

     Robin Williams, in his starting role as the space alien Mork in the “Mork and Mindy” show, gave a more accurate description of immigration enforcement more than 30 years ago.  He was almost deported from the U.S. for being an “illegal alien.”  Mork always communicated with his boss at the end of the program to inform him about activities on earth.  That week, he said “There’s this lady who is carrying a torch and she keeps saying ‘Send me your tired, your poor, and your huddled masses.’  Except there’s also a man down at the immigration office who says ‘Not too tired, not too poor, and not too many.’”

José

Margarita

     

In memory of Helen Nicholson

     My mother, Helen Nicholson, died yesterday afternoon.  She welcomed me into this world in her loving embrace and I told her how much I loved her as she was leaving here.  Her body will soon be reduced to ashes but I continue to feel the presence of her loving spirit.

     I was very blessed to grow up surrounded by her warmth and love.  She taught me about love through her example and that continues to inspire me.  I remember sitting on the porch with my sister while Mom read to us from our favorite books.  When we were able to read for ourselves she always made sure there were books in the house.  She would take us to the library and knew all our favorite authors.  She also volunteered at the school library and encouraged my friends to read by finding books that would interest them.

     When I grew up and moved away from Los Angeles, she visited me in various places where I lived – Arcata, Boise, Spokane, Helena, Missoula and Madison.  We also traveled together to my favorite place in the universe – the Canadian Rockies.  At age 76, she flew from Los Angeles to Indianapolis to meet me there at a Global Ministries conference when I was living in Colombia.  Throughout all those years, her home was always a refuge for me – stocked with my favorite foods and filled with her love.  It feels very strange to be here this morning without her.

     We shared a deep love for nature and a few years ago I found some prose she had written for a high school English class.  “Looking into the sky on a calm, cloudless night, can give me an achingly sweet sensation.  I realize that nature and the universe are so big and overpowering that they have the ability to calm my ruffled thoughts and leave me at peace with myself.  It always helps me to turn to nature, because that way I feel closer to God and to complete happiness.”

     I called Mom on February 11 to tell her about the snow that was falling in Nogales that evening.  It brought back memories of her childhood in Lake Bluff, Illinois and she talked about catching snowflakes on her tongue.  I called her the following evening and she chided me for not having tried that myself.  As we hung up, she told me “I love you Scott Douglas” – just like she did when I was a kid.  It seemed like she knew, in some way, that her life was coming to the end.

     As I told her yesterday, “I love you very much, I’m very grateful, and you can just let go.”

     In loving memory of Helen Nicholson,

     From her son, Scott

Mom, at age 14, at her favorite spot overlooking Lake Michigan

Mom, at age 81, watching the waves crash on the rocks at Cambria, California

The people of Tirabichi

     Maria and Jesus showed me where they want to build their house in the Tirabichi dump of Nogales when I visited there on January 17.  They used to work sweeping the streets but that job ended and they’ve been working in the dump for two years.  Maria told me they sort through the refuse for plastic, glass, tin, aluminum and other recyclable materials.  They store what they’ve found and sell it once a week to the buyers that drive up to the dump.  They earn four to five dollars a day.  Jesus’ parents built a house in the dump a year ago and his father has worked there for ten years.

     The Diario de Sonora newspaper featured a front-page article on January 12 about the families that live at the dump.  The headline read “We feel more forgotten than cold.”  Tirabichi is less than a mile from the Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (HEPAC) community center and I walked up there the next day.  The high temperature that afternoon was 45 degrees and it dropped to 14 the following morning.

     Arturo and the Molina brothers showed me the shelters they had built and I can’t imagine what it would have been like there that night.  Arturo lived in Des Moines, Iowa and his children are still in the U.S. 

     Manuel is 40 years old and he grew up in the dump.  He lived in Tucson for six years, but the rest of his life has been there at Tirabichi.

     The conversations and images from that day stayed with me.  I talked with Sandra and Larry of the Tucson Samaritans, and Liz and Tricia who were visiting from Montana, and I returned to Tirabichi with them on January 17.  The intense cold had ended the day before and the odor was more evident as we walked up the hill.

     “We’re content because we’re able to work here,” Teresa told me.  “I only finished elementary school and that’s why I’m here.”  She has four children between six and seventeen years old, and she’s been working at the dump for six months. 

     The Clinton administration built a border wall to separate Nogales, Sonora from Nogales, Arizona in 1994 (the same year that the North America Free Trade Agreement was implemented).  The Obama administration replaced it with a larger wall in 2011 at a cost of four million dollars per mile.  The people at Tirabichi live less than four miles from where all that money was spent to keep them in poverty. 

     The HEPAC community center represents a grassroots alternative to the policies of inequality and exclusion.  A team from HEPAC was at Tirabichi when we arrived there.  They were inviting people to send their children to the lunch program and to participate in the adult education classes.  Teresa had the flyer and we talked about the opportunity to get her high school education at HEPAC.

Jesus and Maria on the site of their future home