50 to trek in protest of migrant deaths in desert

[TPDHellhound]

50 to trek in protest of migrant deaths in desert

By Stephanie Innes

Over seven days beginning Monday, a group of 50 people is expected to walk 75 miles in solidarity against a U.S. border strategy they say is causing migrants to die each summer in Arizona's scorching heat.

"No one is under the impression we can really feel what it's like to be a migrant walking through the desert," said organizer Luke Roske, who also is part of a local volunteer movement called No More Deaths that does humanitarian work in Arizona's borderlands.

"We will be out there as a public statement, to draw attention to the fact that people are dying in the desert and to say it's enough."

The first Migrant Trail walk was last summer, and organizers say it inspired local humanitarian groups.

"It renewed their commitment to rescue migrants throughout the summer. And it gave people in Tucson a clearer idea of the distance and the dangers that migrants face in the desert every day," said John Fife, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd St., which also is part of the No More Deaths coalition.

Sixteen illegal border crossers are known to have died across Southern Arizona since May 20, caught in the desert when temperatures topped 105 degrees.

The number of undocumented people who have died in Southern Arizona since the start of the federal fiscal year, Oct. 1, is now put at 105, with 90 found in the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector, according to a Daily Star compilation of county medical examiner's records. Last fiscal year, 221 illegal entrants were found dead in Arizona.

"We don't have to go any farther than the headlines of this week to know the challenge is ever before us," said the Rev. Stuart Taylor, co-pastor of St. Mark's Presbyterian Church, 3809 E. Third St., who also is participating in the walk.

St. Mark's is part of a local faith coalition that on June 12 will begin staffing one of two camps called "Ark of the Covenant" that offer 24-hour food, water and medical aid to migrants crossing the desert. One camp, staffed mostly by Mexicans, is on the Mexican side of the border near Douglas and is operating already. The other camp is in Arivaca and operated last summer.

The Ark camps are named for a wooden Ark of the Covenant box that, in the Old Testament, symbolized the presence of God traveling with the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert.

The camps are part of the larger faith-based No More Deaths movement, which has declared the crisis in Arizona's borderlands a "morally intolerable situation" spawned by an ill-conceived U.S. border policy that has placed more agents at ports of entry along the Arizona-Mexico border, pushing the flow of illegal immigration into remote desert areas. The group says unjust immigration and economic policies also have fueled the deaths.

No More Deaths has been criticized by people who say they are encouraging illegal migrants to cross the border, giving them a false sense of security. But Taylor said it is the law of God for people of faith to love and welcome the stranger.

The Border Patrol's Tucson Sector is apprehending an average of 1,300 illegal entrants a day, Border Patrol spokeswoman Andrea Zortman said.

But it's not U.S. border policy that's causing people to die in the desert, Zortman said.

"It's the smugglers who guide them through the most treacherous and inhumane portions of the Arizona desert during the hottest time of the year," she said. "Every year, we see an increase in traffic in the west desert and we add agents so that when migrants get into trouble we're right there to get them out quickly."

Zortman said humanitarian groups such as No More Deaths have a right to be in the desert to provide water and food to people who need it, but she cautioned they must remain within the law - in other words, they cannot aid a person illegally immigrating to the United States.

"Giving them water, food - that does not negatively affect the way that we do our job," she said. "It's when they provide shelter, housing for illegal aliens when it starts to become an issue. We understand why they are out there … but they need to be very aware of what they are doing."

Humanitarian workers should use caution when transporting illegal immigrants to get medical assistance when there are other options, such as calling the U.S. Border Patrol, which has emergency equipment and helicopters, she said.

Fife said humanitarian workers will continue a presence in Arizona's borderlands until the migrant deaths end.

"We cannot be concerned about anything other than our responsibility as humanitarian aid organizations to provide medical assistance to migrants who are dying out there in the desert," he said.

So, who's gonna pay for the rescue efforts for these brain surgeons???

[Signal4]

Easy to fix. Don't walk through the friggin' desert!

[Valor55]

Maybe they'll have the same death problem the migrants are facing in the desert. :rolleyes:

[Seand442]

Ditto. If you don't want to die, don't try to walk through one of the hottest and roughest places in the country with no water.

[0311Marine]

Maybe they would rather the Illegals get shot on sight to ease there suffering???