A Few Stories from the Border

This week the team camped out and fasted for the last three days on the border wall at the place where we paint the crosses. Border Patrol had painted over them again, and we spent three days repainting all 12 crosses, for the 12 who have died in this county this year crossing the desert. While we were there, we came across of number of groups of migrants who were walking along the Mexico side of the wall, presumably to cross farther down the border, where there are fewer border patrol present. We could see and hear them through gaps in the wall.

On Wednesday late afternoon some of us were driving out to the camp at the wall and came across a woman walking along the road. I asked her if she was ok, and she said yes, but then she asked if I would give her a ride. I put her in the van and drove her (past 2 BP jeeps and 2 ATVs with BP agents dressed in jumpsuits, black helmets and gas masks) to our campsite, because Scott has better Spanish and we needed more details about her situation.

We gave her food and water, as she explained that her group left her behind because she was having leg cramps and she could not keep up. She also said that BP agents had passed her on the road and not stopped. Strange as that sounds, we hear stories like that all the time. She was wise to stay on the road, because it is the ones like her that end up dying, left behind in the desert because they cannot walk fast enough. She had no food or water on her. The only thing she was carrying was a copy of the Gospels.

She explained that she was trying to join her husband in Phoenix, that she came from central Mexico on a 30-hour bus trip to the border, and that she had been walking about 4 hours when we picked her up. She had no idea where she was or how far from Phoenix. She did not know whether Douglas was in Arizona or Mexico. She was very young, maybe 21 or 22. We decided to help her make some phone calls to try and meet up with her husband.

Scott and I brought her back to the house (past a large gathering of BP agents and trucks) to use the phone. It was funny to hear her explain to her husband that she was picked up in the desert by "unos gringos" who are Christian. She showered, we gave her some clothes, she ate and drank, and eventually she made arrangements to meet a ride in the McDonald's parking lot. She and I walked there, and there were more BP jeeps, so we had to walk back to the house, where some people picked her up late in the evening. I hope she found her husband and that she is ok.

On Thursday morning at the camp we entertained a visitor from border patrol. He was plainclothes and drove an unmarked car, but would not give us a card, so we don't know his title. He was a talker and stayed for a long time. It was interesting to learn more about him---things like he has two daughters who are drug addicts and one is in jail (crystal meth). He is raising his grandchild. His youngest daughter is at home, and she has "experimented" with illegal drugs because of her sisters, and that is ok with him. Yet there he is out on the border, doing his job to intercept illegal drug shipments, among other things. He is former "Special Forces" and has served in various US wars all over the world.

He is from the area, and he talked about what it was like when he was growing up, when Mexicans came across the border all the time to work, but then went back home. We all agreed that people would rather be able to go home. He also understood as clearly as us that there is a whole system of exploitation going on here, starting with the organized crime syndicates on both sides of the border who are people-smuggling. His view is that there is less risk and more profit in people-smuggling, so that many of the drug smugglers have changed over to doing that.

He also agreed that employers are benefitting from being able to hire cheap labor and not obey US labor laws, because illegal migrants are too afraid to report exploitation. He did not seem to think that it would therefore make more sense to increase enforcement against employers instead of punishing the poor people crossing the border looking for work. That was too much of a stretch for him! He did understand, though, that it is a supply and demand issue, and that as long as there is work in the US (and nothing but low-paying crappy work south of the border), the people will come. But at the same time he thinks that the solution is increased militarization of the border. There is no logic to it.

We asked him what we would have to do to keep BP from painting over our crosses. He said that there was nothing we could do--that they were going to keep painting them over in black. He said he was under pressure from Tucson to charge us with vandalism for it. He acted like he was not inclined to do so, but we were unsure if it was a good cop-bad cop thing and he was just warning us that arrests were about to come down, or if he was letting us know that he was not going to charge us. I guess we will see.

We did make a point of saying that the cross-painting is harmless, so why would they bother to press charges for it. He suggested that we make a proposal for artwork on the wall and submit it to their community relations folks. I asked if we could do that with the crosses, and he said no way. I wonder who defines what is art!

Monsoons and Floods

The monsoon season has finally arrived. This means we have heavy rain almost daily and the weather is much cooler in the late afternoon. Different from the rainy season in Palestine, where it rains nearly nonstop and is freezing cold, here the rainstorms are short but heavy, just enough to cool everything off a bit but not so much that we actually need rain gear. But the ground is so dry that it takes awhile for the rain to soak in, so there are sometimes flash floods.

I think in my last email I wrote about the arrest of two volunteers from our partner organization, No More Deaths, for transporting a migrant to the hospital. Where that case stands is that the government offered them a plea deal (the exact details of which have not been made public) whereby the charges would be resolved in exchange for 12-18 months of probation. The two turned it down and are going to trial. The government dropped one charge, obstruction of justice, but continues to pursue the felony charge of transporting an undocumented person. It is unclear whether the Border Patrol will continue to arrest for this activity---so far it has continued with no further arrests.

In response to the arrests, NMD launched a campaign to "flood the desert" with volunteers searching for migrants in distress, which we participated in. I volunteered to be on call to transport to the hospital if needed and if the other volunteers did not want to risk arrest. Luckily, it was not needed. Chances are, though, that I would not have been arrested, because I think the BP doesn't want two cases going on at the same time.

We have continued to paint crosses on the border wall for every death in Cochise County this year, and so far we are up to 11. Every time we go to paint a new cross, we find the old ones painted over with black paint, so we end up painting all new ones every time. We do not know who is responsible. So far, the BP monitors our action but does not try to stop it. Presumably they could arrest us if they wanted to (for doing it on government property), but to their credit, so far they have refrained from that. The crosses are harmless, make the wall look better, and are meaningful to those of us painting them.

After we paint the crosses, we always hammer on the wall to symbolize our desire to break down the barriers between people and nations. We may start doing other kinds of symbolic actions at the wall---it is under discussion. At this most recent cross painting we invited local media, and there were a couple of newspaper articles about it in the surrounding towns.

In addition to increasing desert patrols, we have also started more intentional monitoring of the Border Patrol, similar to what we do in Palestine. Although there is no evidence of anything systemic, we do know there are abuses, and abuse can only take place if no-one is watching. With this high level of militarization, I think it is a good idea for them to know they are accountable. There was a case this week where a local BP agent blew the whistle on the deplorable conditions in their holding facility and was fired for it. So locally, although we have not seen any abuses on the street, we think there may be some inside.

I'll be leading a group to DC September 14-16 to lobby for comprehensive immigration reform. If any of you are interested in participating, especially all you nearby Maryland folks, let me know. I can email you detailed information and a registration form. It should be fun---a bunch of our local partners are sending people, all of whom have lots of experience on the border. They have voices that need to be heard in this debate, and it feels good to be able to facilitate that.

Some Mexican documentary filmmakers interviewed me this week about the similarities between the border wall here and the security wall in Palestine. It is so interesting to me that even here people continue to want to talk to me about my experiences in Palestine. What goes on in the Holy Land is important for many people.