Spring break Borderlinks trip

I returned from the borderlands late Friday night and have been trying to put my experiences into words. It is impossible to convey all that we saw and felt during our trip in a blog post, but I will do my best to convey the major issues we confronted.

In the early 1990's the US government began to construct walls and increase border security designed to funnel migrants to border crossings in increasingly remote parts of the Arizona desert. The trip now requires about 4 days on foot crossing the mountains and facing the blazing heat in the daytime and frigid temperatures at night. During the summer a person has to consume about 1 gallon of water PER HOUR to avoid becoming dehydrated. It is impossible to carry this much water and migrants can find themselves in dire situations very quickly. On average one person dies in the Arizona desert every day.

Some of them are unable to keep up with the group and the guide or "coyote" abandons them to their own devices. We heard the story of a 14-year-old Salvadorian girl who was left behind by her guide. Her mother sent photos to the US to help the searchers identify her when she was found. It took several weeks to locate and recover her body.

Our guides on the desert walk were members of the Samaritans, a group that patrols the main trails with food, water, and maps looking for migrants in need of help. This is one of many trails the migrants follow north to meeting points where they are picked up and taken in to Tucson.

The migrant trail is littered with empty water bottles, clothes, shoes, backpacks, toothpaste, and other every day items used in making the trip. Migrants leave these things behind because the less they are carrying the less they look like migrants. They usually bring a clean outfit to change into so they don't look like they have been walking in the desert for days.

Vendors on the Mexican side take advantage of the migrant traffic, backpacks, water, and other necessities for the journey cost many times more in the border towns than they do further south. Much of what we saw in the desert looked brand new.

In the summer migrants often walk at night and bed down in the brush during the heat of the day. The brush provides a place where the migrants are not visible from Border Patrol helicopters flying overhead.

We crossed into Naco, Mexico and visited a new migrant resource center founded by an American living in Arizona. The center offers food, water, coffee, clean clothes, blankets and finds shelter for migrants staying the night in an unfamiliar town. While we were there a young man with a badly wounded hand was taken to the hospital for medical attention. Border Patrol had wrapped his hand but he needed antibiotics and possible plastic surgery. The center also documents how long each migrant was detained and whether they were given food and water while in custody. Most of the migrants we met were held 15-18 hours without access to food or water. The center also helps those who wish to file complaints against the US Border Patrol contact the Mexican Consulate.

We also visited the infamous wall constructed out of leftover landing strips from the first Gulf War.

In Nogales, Sonora, Mexico a group of artists dedicated to public art have decorated the wall with art. The first installment was designed to be displayed on both sides of the border, but the US would not allow the artists to alter the wall. When the artists asked the Mexican government they said "go ahead, it's not our wall!"

There was also a great deal of graffiti on the Mexican side of the wall in addition to the formal art provided by local artists. I admire the efforts to turn such a hateful eyesore into a forum for expression.

Here is a closeup of a nasty-looking coyote. While many people admit that the coyotes are necessary they also say that the vast majority are bad people who only care about the money they are paid for shepherding the migrants accross the border and do not value human life.

This is the wall in part of Nogales. It has been open here for quite some time, but the National Guard is busily finishing it to prevent people from running over the border and escaping into the city of Nogales, Arizona. There is a large border patrol presence here and there are multiple camera towers being monitored at Border Patrol headquarters. The Border Patrol has also installed stadium lighting along the wall to deter night crossings. The lights are damaging the desert ecosystem.

This is the wall seen from a Mexican neighborhood. Many people on both sides of the border have stunning backyard views of the wall.

Our last full day in Tucson we attended immigration court and witnessed "Operation Streamline." The Tucson sector of the Border Patrol "apprehends" upwards of 1,000 people a day. All of them are finger printed and run through the system. The majority select "VR" or voluntary return. These migrants are sent back to the border in a large bus, but do not have a deportation or criminal record. Not everyone is so lucky. The Border Patrol has full discretion to select 40-60 migrants every day to be criminally prosecuted. Any of them with criminal records will be prosecuted for the crime of re-entry.

Those with no previous record plead guilty to the misdemeanor of illegal entry in order to avoid felony prosecution for illegal entry. In theory the defendants are entitled to a trial, but because it is so easy for the government to prove the case it is much safer to plead guilty. After they serve their time (anywhere from time served to 10 days for first-time offenders) they are then deported and now have a criminal record in the US that will come back to haunt them if they are caught trying to enter again.

Those with prior records (many of them prior illegal entry misdemeanors) enter into written plea agreements with the government to avoid the felony charge. The government offers a sentence of half the rediculously long terms for the felony in exchange for a guilty plea. The plea bargain gained popularity because it keeps defendants from appealing. If a defendant appeals the plea agreement is violated and the government will prosecute for the felony resulting in a multiple-year prison sentence. The whole process is highly coercive, arbitrary and resembles a cattle call. We spoke to the federal public defenders who said they have to advise their clients to plead guilty because they will likely get time served whereas if they decide to go to trial they will spend another 30 days in jail waiting for the trial date.

The whole situation is quite disheartening. We also met with several groups who gave us hope for positive change. I will write another post soon detailing the positive actions being taken on the Mexican side designed to provide people with a means of providing for their families without leaving for the US.