From May 19 to 27 I was in Arizona and
Nogales, Mexico to try to grasp what is happening to migrants since the U.S
built a wall along parts of the border. The delegation of 17 U.S. citizens was
led by School of the Americas Watch founder Fa. Roy Bourgeois. We were hosted by BorderLinks in
Tucson, AZ which is part of a
network of organizations working together to provide humanitarian aid to
migrants and to change U.S. immigration policies that both criminalize the
migrants and militarize our 2000 mile long border with Mexico. Within the network we met with
Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, No More Deaths, the Kino Border
Initiative, Casa Mariposa and
Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (HEPAC) in Nogales, Mexico. The people’s stories below are from some of the migrants I
met.
Five
thousand humans died crossing into the United States in the 13 years between
1998 and 2011- that is, remains were recovered for that many. In the Tucson area alone, 1,286 deaths were
recorded since 2008. First the
Samaritans (2002) and then No More Deaths (2004) were founded to prevent deaths in the desert. They carry food, water and
medicine to the narrow trails most frequently used by the “coyotes” who
are guiding small groups of migrants
to a hopefully secure pick- up spot. On a Wednesday, half of our group went with a No More Deaths
(NMD) volunteer to carry gallon jugs of water to such a trail. The footing was hazardous as little
stones made the trail slippery. In some places we had to duck low to avoid tree
branches, and thorny plants crowded the paths on both sides. We had to scale a 10 foot vertical wall using small hand
and toe holds. Our destination was a small shrine under
trees against a rock face, where migrants had left photos and small relics. Along the way we also found a sock,
a t-shirt and a burlap sack such
as are used to carry drugs. (more later) I kept trying to imagine walking this
trail in the dark, as the migrants are forced to do. It didn’t seem possible.
As
for transporting drugs, some men are coerced into shouldering the large sacks
of marijuana, others do it to reduce the $2500-3000 fee they owe the
coyote. One migrant told me that
the coyotes are constantly high and thus don’t feel pain or cold.
NMD
has started a new effort to prevent death and inability to keep up due to
blisters. They are assembling
“Harm Reduction Kits” containing anti-blister creams, vials for water
purification and a whistle.
The group also helps to operate the comedor
in Nogales, Mexico, which serves 2 hot meals a day to the recently deported,
and gives every one of them two free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S.,
Mexico. or Central America. In
addition, they supply “Dignity Bags” to replace lost backpacks, and go to great
lengths to try to retrieve the belongings that were confiscated by the Border
Patrol when they were detained in the U.S. Another part of their mission is to change the “war zone”
policies of the U.S. and bring the plight of migrants to public attention.
NMD volunteer Steve
told us that when migrants are detained, their money is stored until their
release. Then it is returned to
them in the form of a debit card that must be activated in the U.S., or as a
bank check that costs 30% of its value to cash in a Mexican bank. So, in effect, migrants are robbed by
U.S. immigration officials.
We met Cesar from Guatemala
at Casa Mariposa, an intentional spiritual community that works with migrants
and provides hospitality to some of them in their home. One of these is Cesar,
a 26 year old Guatemalan who has
crossed into the U.S. 12 times and been detained and deported 9 times. The last
time he was detained, he was granted a special ID that allows him to stay in
the U.S. for one year but not to work.
Cesar said 50% of his
family in Guatemala was massacred, and he fears he would be tortured if he
returned. He is looking for
another country where he can be safe, because he doesn’t trust that he won’t be
deported again. When someone asked
him if he is angry, he responded, “I am not angry because God forgave me
(through his son Jesus), so I must forgive those who massacred my family and
jailed me. “
He told us about the
conditions in ICE detention cells.
“First they put you in the ‘freezer’. I was there for 15 days once. You don’t have room to lie down. They give you a plastic
cover, and you are very cold. They
throw some bread to the whole group and cold drinks. The guards refused to speak in Spanish or turn their backs
when you ask for something. They
wouldn’t hand him the key to his cell with their bare hand, even though
everyone had been checked for AIDS and TB.. If you were sick, the only medicine was water.”
Cesar’s
forgiveness is not my forgiveness.
Steve said two people die every day in the desert. I now wear a medallion around my neck
which bears the face of Antonia. She was crossing with her son to reunite with
a daughter in the States. She fell behind and died. There are 5100 children of migrants now in custody in the
U.S., separated from their parents. 1500 of them are in child protective
services around the country. The
rest are with relatives who have stepped forward to help. But a relative is not this child’s
mother or father. 204,000 parents
of minor children have been deported in the 16 months between 2010 and 2012.
RAUL
, an undocumented man who know of the pain of separation, threw himself under a
Border Patrol jeep to prevent it from arresting the father of six children. He
was arrested and deported, as was the father.
In some communities immigrants are organizing Networks of Protection to
be prepared in case of the deportation of
an undocumented parent.
They make detailed plans for the children, for pets, for a house or for
a car that a spouse may need to get to work.
And what of the financial
costs?
·
Immigration enforcement, paying and equipping Border Patrol
agents, cost $17.9 billion in
2010, more than all the other Federal enforcement operations combined.
·
The wall costs $3-11 million per mile. It is
already over 500 miles long and many politicians are calling for extending it
for the entire 2000 miles of our border with Mexico.
·
Central Americans are flown home when they are
deported at a cost of $12,500 per person. So far 76,216 have received this
treatment
·
Our profit-making prisons received $5.5 billion
to house detained migrants since 2005.
Operation
Streamline – trying and sentencing 70 migrants a day in Tucson alone costs
billions, and subsequent incarceration costs $688,800 per day.
And that is
not all, but I stopped adding it up when I saw the figures reaching into the
billions. I figure none of us
knows how much money one billion dollars is, except to say it is a lot, and
most of us can think of better ways to spend it.
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