Welcome Ceremony for Migrant Trail

For Immediate Release

Contact: Lynda CruzMigrant Trail Media Representative: 520-437-7551

Welcome Ceremony for Migrant Trail Participants June 6, 2010

Tucson, AZ- Migrant Trail participants will arrive at 11:30am on June 6th at Kennedy Park (Intersection of Ajo and Kenny Rd), Ramada #3, for a closing ceremony.

The Migrant Trail is a non-violent event, and is free and open to the community. Participants and organizers of the Migrant Trail call on all people of conscience to stand in solidarity with our migrant sisters and brothers. On May 31, 2010, a diverse group of individuals began a 75 mile walk to call attention to the human rights crisis occurring on the southern border. The 7th Annual Migrant Trail: We walk for Life is a joint endeavor of community groups and individuals from both sides of the border walking in solidarity with migrants to demand an end to the deaths in the desert. Sponsors include the Migrant Trail Walk Committee, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Mennonite Central Committee- U.S., Catholic Relief Services - Mexico Program, No More Deaths- Phoenix , No More Deaths Tucson, Coloradans for Immigrants Rights, BorderLinks, Cafe Justo, Humane Borders, JPIC Office of the St. Barbara Province Franciscans, Tucson SOA Watch, Casa Maria, AFSC Colorado, Shalom Mennonite Fellowship, Dhammaratanaram Buddhist Temple, El Centro Humanitario, Principe de Paz Church, Tucson Samaritans, Restoration Project, University Presbyterian Church, Fundación México, 8th Day Center for Justice, and Frontera de Cristo.

"The Migrant Trail is a call to action that shines light on one of the darkest chapters of our nation's legal and social history. Our failed immigration law and border policy causes hundreds of deaths per year. It punishes and dehumanizes hard working migrant laborers and destroys families," says Mel Rodis, a Phoenix attorney. "The walk helps others to empathize with migrants and to understand their plight."

Since the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 5,000 men, women and children have lost their lives attempting to cross the U.S./Mexico border. As the summer approaches, Arizona experiences triple digit temperatures and the number of migrants dying in the desert begins to increase dramatically. Many will die the horrible death of dehydration and exposure. These deaths, a direct result of failed and flawed border and immigration policies, must be prevented.

"The Migrant Trail is an act of solidarity. We refuse to let the deaths in the desert take place silently. As we work to end this inhumane system, we are speaking their names. We walk to remember. We walk to organize," says Stephanie Dernek of 8th Day Center for Justice, Chicago, IL.