Crossing the Border

Crossing the Border

We drove south towards the US/Mexico border, to see for ourselves the human creation of this physical divide, cutting across land, animal habitat, communities, families and so much more.

Our first stop before crossing the border was Bisbee, AZ, a small town just 10 miles from the Mexico border. We met with Cecile Lumer, a member of Citizens for Border Solutions, who accompanied us to Naco, Sonora, Mexico to visit the Migrant Aid Center that she helps organize.

As we approached the border we could see the long stretch of metal fencing that cut across the land for miles. We crossed into Mexico and found a small building that said "Ofrecemos ayuda, informacion y comida completamente gratis." (We offer help, information and food completely free) This Migrant Aid Center just opened in January of 2008 and has been there to help migrants who are deported back to Mexico and are dropped across the border, left demoralized and without money or an orientation of where they even are.

The Migrant Aid Center has served 6,789 people since it opened. Along with offering material aid they record information about the experience of being in detention. Cecile reported that for the month of August some migrants were held in detention for up to 96 hours. Most of the time they migrants who are detained and are awaiting deportation do not get adequate food or water while in custody and some have been reported to have received nothing. The Aid Center has helped document abuses that helped support the No More Deaths report on human rights abuses on the Arizona/Sonora border mentioned in previous blog postings.

Cecile shared with us that the numbers of people deported has dramatically dropped in the last months due to the Repatriation program of the Department of Homeland Security.

This program offers migrants the opportunity to be deported to Mexico City instead of simply being dropped across the border. The idea being that if people are flown closer to their home it would be a deterrent for people to try and cross again. But, there are cases of people coming through Naco who have been flown back up to three times and still continue to try and cross in hopes of fulfilling their dream of finding work to support their family. This program is scheduled to conclude at the end of the Border Patrol fiscal year sometime in September. As Cecile said, Border Patrol has all this money they need to figure out how to spend, otherwise they won't get as much next year.

The ICE Detention and Removal Operation's Air Transportation Unit is responsible for providing oversight
and coordination of passengers from Tucson International Airport. Under the initiative, Mexican nationals apprehended in Arizona are processed at centers in Nogales and Yuma, Arizona, where they are interviewed by Mexican and U.S. officials for possible inclusion in the Interior Repatriation Program. Those who volunteer to participate in the program are then flown to Mexico City and provided bus transportation to their places of origin in the interior of Mexico. (From ICE Press Release in 2007)

Our next stop was East to Douglas, AZ, a town that borders Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. We crossed into Agua Prieta to find the Agua Prieta Migrant Resource Center. Similar to the Naco Center, they offer food, water, clothing, and information about shelters and bus stations in the town.

The volunteer working at the center shared with us that they receive an average of 3 migrants every 4 hours. But there are days when they don't receive any migrants for six hours and others when they receive many more; last Thursday they received 73 people between 7am and 12pm. She shared with us that they have also seen a dramatic decrease in migrants being deported directly across to Agua Prieta because people are being flown in to Mexico City.

As we made our way back across the border into the U.S. and began our drive back north; watching as the massive wall got smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror as we drove away. We were back on the land that so many risked their lives to journey to, a land that offers so many hopes and dreams to so many. Yet, a land that does not treat them as human beings and creates fear and terror in their communities once they are here.