Agua, Comida y Medicina...

Agua, Comida y Medicina…

(Water, Food and Medicine...)

Karina, Jenny, and I finished our time at the No More Deaths camp near Arivaca, AZ which is situated nearly 10 miles from the border. Our time there consisted of bringing water, food and medical needs to the migrants in the desert. The work of NMD's and other humanitarian aid groups at the border have had significant impact on those who are in dire need. The experience on those who spend time at the desert camp has also had significant impact on the lives of those with privilege. Many college students and other volunteers come from all over the country to volunteer and learn. It was great to be able to spend time with folks at the camp that were from all over the country. There were folks from Seattle, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and others from Arizona. It was a great mix of people who had found their way to the desert from many different places and for many different reasons.

We would leave camp at about 7:00am, driving the roads and walk the trails frequently traveled by migrants and return to camp around 11:30am. We would then go out again after lunch around 2:30 and stay out until around 6:00pm. It was an amazing feeling to leave gallons of water at one point and return the next day to find them empty. It's monsoon season, and after a night of a rough storm we walked the trails and left blister kits and socks in a drop box in the hopes that it would help migrants who had injured feet because of walking in wet shoes. We then returned to the same drop box in the afternoon and found that the socks were gone. Although we never encountered the migrants, we know that they took them and hopefully it will help them along their journey.

We left our time in the desert with the feeling that we had helped people in the desert and with a deeper understanding of the migrant journey through the desert. We also left with a re-newed commitment to work for systemic change that will address the root causes for why people make the decision to cross such a vast and dangerous desert and to address the immigration policies and enforcement strategies that do not treat migrants with the basic human rights and dignity they deserve.

(written by Stephanie Dernek)

Bringing the Border to Washington, DC Part I

No More Deaths Press Conference 9/12/2008

Bringing the Border to Washington, D.C.

A delegation from No More Deaths will be making their way to Washington, D.C. as a part of Congressional Briefing hosted by Raul Grijalva on September 17th and a briefing hosted by Amnesty International on September 18th. Below are some clips from the press conference that Jenny Dale and Stephanie Dernek attended. We will post a summary of the document as soon as we are able.

Opening Remarks- Rev. Diane Dowgiert, Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson



Testimony from Green Valley Samaritans- Shura Wallin



Testimony from No More Deaths Volunteer- Jimmy Wells


Testimony from Tucson Samaritans & No More Deaths- Margo Cowan


Our job, collectively is to make the realities of the border known throughout the country. The abuses documented by NMD in this report are very important to lift up, recognizing that these too can happen in our backyard if we are not vigilant in ensuring that the rights of all people are maintained.

The Next Leg of our Journey - NMD Tucson

The Next Leg of Our Journey

We will be worshiping at Southside Presbyterian Church tomorrow morning. Southside was a leader in the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s and has continue as a sanctuary church to this day and so much more.

In the afternoon we will be joining up with No More Deaths (NMD) Tucson for the volunteer training to prepare us for our days in the desert. We will be at the NMD desert camp until Friday, September 12th. Please visit the blog in a few days. We will have much to share.

No More Deaths Mission is:
To end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights.

http://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/
http://www.nomoredeaths.org/

Re-envisioning our Goals

Re-envisioning our Goals

This delegation was born out of a call both personal and as organizational members of Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition (CNSC). In our work as CNSC we recognize the connection that many immigrants in Chicago have made the journey across the vast and treacherous desert of the Arizona border region. Many know family or friends or they themselves have made this journey, coming from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and other Latin American countries.

This trip is one of accompaniment, shared learning, education, awareness, service and solidarity. During this trip we hope to learn more about anti-immigrant movements and their impact on local communities, Arizona and the reverberation out to the rest of the country and to Chicago.

We feel there is great significance to the timing of this delegation. Over the past few months we have seen escalation of anti-immigrant sentiment throughout the country. We have seen two of the largest raids in both Postville, Iowa in May of this year and the most recent raid in Laurel, Mississippi. This has brought to light, at least for immigrant rights activists, that the policies of the United States government are still very anti-immigrant and continue to racially target certain populations.

The second reason is that it is still summer in the desert. In the area of the desert that we will be there are thousands of people crossing weekly. This portion of the border is one of the deadliest areas for migrants to cross. We feel it is important to lift this up this human rights crisis, with over 300 people dieing yearly.

We also are conscious of the climate in Arizona. There is much repression, violation of civil liberties, and human rights violations which is cause for understanding and action. These are happening at the border and through local and state municipalities. One of the worst cases is in Maricopa County with Sheriff Arpaio.

If it can happen in Arizona it can happen anywhere and can move throughout the country if people do not take a stand against it. When one segment of the population is being targeted this is an infringement on all of our civil liberties and rights. It is a place where repressive immigration policies, racist sentiment and the most traveled migrant trail converge.

These harsh realities call us to the border and we come to Arizona because of this.

Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff, AZ

We arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona with the intention to meet with Luis Fernandez, professor of Criminology at Northern Arizona University, and to find out what’s happening around immigrant rights in Flagstaff.

Upon our arrival we took some time to hear from Luis, who is a longtime activist and former professor of Jenny Dale at Grinnell College. Luis shared with us the vision of the border as more than a fence, more than a wall, but as a reality that follows migrants as they move forward in their journeys. It’s in Maricopa County with Sheriff Arpaio, it’s in Waukegan with the deputized police force, and it’s in Chicago with the Polimigra.

Later in the evening we met with Jo and Richard from No More Deaths (NMD) Flagstaff. They started the group in January 2008 and are working to support the NMD closer to the border. Their work has included providing volunteers through the long winter months and working to fundraise to support the work of NMD. We discussed ways to keep volunteers engaged in their hometowns after spending time at the border with No More Deaths. How do we help people make the connection between what is happening on the border with the realities of their local communities?

Also present at the meeting were Joel and Katie from the Repeal Coalition. Their goal is to repeal all anti-immigrant legislation starting at the local, then state and national levels. They shared with us their plans for moving forward on this, beginning in the community of Flagstaff.

We look forward to continuing communications and strengthen our relationships with these groups to better connect Chicago and Arizona in the immigrant rights movement.


http://www.myspace.com/repealcoalition
http://www.nomoredeaths.org/

New Mexico

A Stop in New Mexico and a visit with Mary Ann Corley

Mary Ann was the director of American Friends Service in Committee in Chicago during the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s. The Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America received refugees from Tucson and other communities on the US/Mexico border and placed them with a congregations. These refugees were fleeing wars in El Salvador and Guatemala that were funded by the U.S. government. The Sanctuary Movement was working to support refugees who were fleeing from certain death and to change U.S. foreign policy. Although there are many connections between the struggles of the 1980s and today we are still figuring out how to live out the call to action given the realities we live in today.

Visiting with Mary Ann helped lift up Chicago's strong roots of participating in the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s. Mary Ann worked with Dan Dale, among many others, to organize the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s and supported Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ as the first congregation in Chicago to declare themselves a Sanctuary Church. Today Wellington has again responded to the call for justice and solidarity and they have declared themselves a part of the New Sanctuary Movement. Congregations throughout the country are answering this same call to hospitality and welcoming the stranger.

Our visit with Mary Ann started our journey by reflecting on the past and looking to how we build the New Sanctuary Movement on the strong traditions of the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s.

http://www.waucc.org
http://www.newsanctuarymovement.org/
http://www.clueca.org/
http://www.afsc.org
http://www.iwj.org/

Chicago IL to Oklahoma City, Ok (around 12 hours)

Oscar Romero Catholic Worker, Oklahoma City, OK

We were welcomed by Bob Waldrop in the late hours of the night (early morning) at the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker in Oklahoma City. The Catholic Worker movement was started by Dorothy Day in 1933 with the philosophy of helping people in need and making it easy for people to be good and that is what the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker is trying to do. He started this Catholic Worker in the early 1990s and named it for Oscar Romero, who was a Catholic Archbishop in El Salvador. Romero was chosen for this Catholic Worker because of his example of being one who came from privilege and chose a life of simplicity and to work with the poor, Bob and this community doing this as well.

The Oscar Romero Community delivers food to people in need, especially people who do not have transportation. Given the reality of the economy these days, Bob said that he has seen an increase in the people that needing assistance to make ends meet. Another significant piece of the work of the Oscar Romero community is the food coop that has been created to distribute locally grown and organic food throughout Oklahoma City.

Bob shared with us that Oklahoma has approximately 30,000 undocumented immigrants, but many are leaving because of the anti-immigrant legislation that has passed and the anti-immigrant sentiment in Oklahoma. The Oscar Romero Catholic Worker took a strong stance against the anti-immigrant legislation proposed in 2006 in the Oklahoma legislature that did eventually passed. In the Summer 2006 Oklahoma City Catholic Worker newspaper they proclaimed “We call upon all people of goodwill to stand together in solidarity against these wicked and evil laws that are based in racism and hatred of other cultures.”

For further information on the Oklahoma City Oscar Romero Catholic Worker their contact information is: 1524 NW 21^st, Oklahoma City, 73106 , 405-557-0436, www.justpeace.org/okccwindex.htm

Other Links of interest:

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/shop/producers/oscro.php
http://www.thedorothydaycenter.com/resources/About_CWER2007.htm
http://www.cliniclegal.org/StateandLocal/OKanalysisfinal.pdf