A View From the Border: Day Three Part 2 “No vaya ud. No hay sufficiente ague. No vale la pena” (Don’t make the trip. There’s not enough water. It’s not worth it.)

Here is the latest from the UC Davis law student delegation visting the U.S./Mexico  border region in southern Arizona:

After our meeting with Border Patrol we met with Paul Fuschini of Humane Borders. With over 8,000 volunteers, Humane Borders offers humanitarian assistance to migrants by maintaining over 80 water stations throughout the Arizona/Mexico border region. The water stations consist of 65 gallon drums placed in remote desert locations; a blue flag waving thirty feet up announces the location of each station. Humane Borders has obtained permits in order to place the barrels on public lands. An agreement with Border Patrol prevents agents from hovering around the stations waiting to catch thirsty migrants. The permits require that the water stations are regularly maintained, so Humane Borders sends out a brigade of volunteers to make over 70 trips each week to maintain the stations during the peak season. Trips to the more remote water stations take eight hours round trip. We were all struck by Paul’s generosity of spirit. He lightly brushed off the hateful emails sent to the organization, accusing it of undermining national security and doing the “devil’s work.” Some of the water stations have been subject to sabotage – Paul showed us a photograph of a barrel riddled with bullet holes – and a Humane Borders truck was stolen and destroyed. Despite these violent acts, Paul remains upbeat and committed to the task at hand – ensuring that as many migrants as possible don’t die of dehydration. In our meeting with Border Patrol, Officer King described the efforts of organizations such as Humane Borders as encouraging migrants to cross the desert and increasing “illegal immigration.” However, Humane Borders feels that placing water in the desert saves lives and calls attention to the number of people who perish each year crossing the desert – people who will cross whether there are water stations or not. Another Humane Borders project is the creation of warning posters advising migrants of how long the trek across the desert will take them. The posters are maps of the desert that say “No Vaya Ud. No Hay Suficiente Agua. No Vale la Pena.” (Don’t make the trip. There’s not enough water. It’s not worth it.) The organization wanted to distribute these maps in southern Mexico, where, in recent years, a large number of migrants come from. Humane Borders wanted to ensure that more migrants understood the dangers of crossing the border before they left their home communities. Last year, the organization spoke with the Mexican Human Rights commission, a government agency, which agreed to distribute the posters. However, the following week, secretary of DHS, Michael Chertoff stated that the maps would encourage illegal immigration because they would show migrants how to cross into the US illegally. The Mexican human rights commission subsequently decided not to distribute the maps. Undaunted, Humane Borders itself sent a brigade of volunteers to distribute the maps in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.

KJ