A View from the Border: UC Davis Law Students Border Delegation

University students are known for enjoying spring break at exotic locations. This year, however, a group of UC Davis law students decided to spend the break visiting the U.S./Mexico border to see what it is really like. We will post notes of the group’s observations over the week. Here is the first entry:

Day 1

Six UC Davis law students, Cassandra Lopez (2L), Katie Ruhl (3L), Sarah Farnsworth (3L), Heather Chicca (3L), Shay Fluharty (1L) and Monique DeBrito (1L) flew from Sacramento, CA to Phoenix, AZ on Saturday March 17 to begin a week long spring break trip studying the US-Mexico border. After arriving in Phoenix we drove to Tucson to what we thought would be a pretty standard campground, Adventure Bound RV Resort. It turned out to be a small community of RVs, trailer homes, and very few tent campers. In fact our camping experience was pretty unique. The “campsite” had internet access, a hot tub, and a workout room, just to name a few amenities. However, it wasn’t completely luxurious. Signs pointing to our campsite said only “tents and dump.” After unloading the van we realized we’d left our tent at baggage claim! After asking the locals about the dangers of scorpions we thought we would be okay sleeping outside with just our sleeping bags, but then we saw a wild boar walk through our campsite. Some of us ended up sleeping in the van, for fear of wild boars waking us up. The night wasn’t bad though and we woke up before 6am on Sunday ready for our first day at the border.

Day 2

We left our campsite early this morning to meet with Ed McCullough from No More Deaths and Good Samaritans. Ed guided us to the Mariposa port of entry at Nogales. We walked through the international border and on our way, through a chain-link fence, we caught views of the border fence. Immediately after crossing over the international border we saw a relief tent staffed by volunteers from Good Samaritans and No More Deaths. This tent provides food, water, and basic first aid care to migrants who have been deported after being caught by Border Patrol. The tent was staffed by about 3-5 volunteers and was serving about 10-15 people when we arrived. Shortly after our arrival at least two more groups of migrants entered the tent. We helped serve them soup and water, assisted with translation, and got a chance to talk with the volunteers and the migrants themselves. The tent volunteers told us about the condition most of the migrants came to them in: 3rd degree blistered burns on their feet from hiking days in the desert with worn shoes, hypothermia from this winter’s sub-freezing temperatures, severe dehydration, and some men literally crawling up to the camp. Many migrants lose limbs to amputation because of severe injuries. Some come with bruises after having been beaten and abused by border patrol officers. The volunteers had some interesting comments about border patrol officers. They noted that most seemed like decent people just trying to do their job. Some even try to tell migrants where to go so that they won’t be caught. But there are a few who are abusive. Migrants, crossing in remote locations and having no formal methods of complaining, are left vulnerable to abuse. One of the migrants noted, though, that compared to the police in Mexico, border patrol officers aren’t so bad. Many of us were taken aback by our reactions when groups of migrants came to the tent. Most of the migrants were young to middle aged men, but we saw a few women, including one traveling with a small child. As young women ourselves, we were quite affected by that particular face of immigration. We had several conversations with the tent volunteers about the broader causes of immigration, the failures of immigration law, and the logistics of border crossing. When talk of coyotes came up, we all spoke in hushed voices; coyotes were interspersed with the other migrants. Our guide Ed then took us to some of the migrant trails. To get to our trail we drove 20 miles on a dirt road. It was bumpy, dusty, and hot. It took nearly two hours and I kept thinking, wow, this road is treacherous to even drive and I can’t imagine walking it. We walked 3 miles (just a tiny fraction) of one of several trails migrants take after crossing the US border. The trail was littered with discarded clothes, water bottles, medications, and other items. Several of us were struck by a bottle of electrolyte formula for children. Parts of the trail were tough – sometimes the brush was thick and made the trail hard to follow, sometimes we had to scale small rock structures, and the heat made it uncomfortable. Again, we were reminded how hellish it would be to make the entire journey, which could take several days, where people have to carry several gallons of water and other supplies, where people die because of heat exhaustion, hypothermia, dehydration, or exhaustion. A mile and a half into the trail we came to an alcove in the side of a mountain where people set up a shrine. There was a crucifix and several rosary beads adorning pictures of families, notes to loved ones, candles, and prayer cards. We wondered why the shrine existed and who was in the pictures. Were these people who died on the trail? Were they loved ones left behind? Were the pictures left as a message of hope? Memorials? We held a moment of silence to contemplate these questions and reflect on the day.

KJ