"How far would you walk to feed your family?" Six migrants walked to their deaths in as many days in the Arizona desert this week, bringing the year's total to 88 fatalities in the Tucson Sector alone.
The query "How far..." punctuated a June 6th press conference held by No More Deaths, CPT's local coalition partner, as human rights workers shared first-hand accounts of the courage and compassion of migrants they have encountered in the desert. No More Deaths reopens summer camps and mobile stations in the Sonoran desert this weekend as temperatures climb into 100's.
For those migrants who survive the desert crossing incarceration awaits. A record 26,000 migrants are currently imprisoned in the burgeoning network of private and state detention centers across the United States.
Meanwhile the immigration reform bill debate drones on in congress.
CPT's Borderlands Witness Drive is scheduled to begin in Tucson on July 2nd. The team will travel along the US/Mexican border meeting with the myriad groups engaged in migrant aid/advocacy work,visiting and vigiling at detention centers and collecting information/stories in an effort to bring the human face of migration to Capital Hill in early August at the culmination of the Drive.
The perils of migration are lethal in the deserts of the southwest, but violations of human rights dog every step of a migrant sister or brother's journey north. Borderlands Witness Drive will follow this trail through the southeast with meetings, vigils and solidarity gatherings in Louisana, Georgia and North Carolina and ultimatly, Washington DC.
4 comments:
Wouldnt an effective wall prevent those deaths? That would free up CPT and others to go to Mexico and other countries to work for reforms in those countries. We cant bring the population of every disadvantaged country here. So we have to go to those countries and give them the tools that we developed here to become better places - Places in which people want to live.
I agree that the efforts of our religious institutions, government, businesses, NGOs and individuals should be toward eliminating the issues of structural violence that cause folks to have to migrate for their daily bread.
But is an "effective wall" a humanitarian act or an act of repression? The immigration issue is not unlike most other social justice issues. The "line drawn in the sand" is one more of worldview and not so much of partisan politics.
Therefore, as Christians we are called to tear down walls of division. We are called to demonstrate a love without borders. The humanizing tradition of hospitality has been replaced with the commodification of cheap labor and the dehumanization of migrants.
Walls only serve as a defensive tool. To believe we need a wall is to believe that poor migrants are criminals who seek to do us harm rather than industrious individuals in seek of a living wage for their family.
Indeed, the politics of walls fuel the anti-immigrant community's fears, and fear is a powerful tool for social control. Our task is to dispel that fear with perfect love.
In the end, I do hope we will address the root causes of migration so that every person can have the dignified option to remain in one's culture and land. But until that day, I applaud and pray for CPT's efforts to counteract the walls of fear and repression we build along socially constructed borders and in our hearts.
Anton,
I resonate with your words. In fact, on Sunday I am preaching on Galatians 3:23-29. My sermon title is: "The Dividing Lines are Down." May I quote some of what you have written here?
Actually walls are some of the cause of immigrants dying while trying to cross our borders. The wall between Douglas and Agua Pieta force people to go around the town and through the dry parched land outside of town. Likewise the walls in Nogales...
Would a wall prevent deaths? I doubt it. The people will still come, driven by poverty, hunger and dispair, with hope for a decent life for their families driving them on. The will climb over walls, some falling and injuring themselves and being left to fend for themselves by coyotes. The wall wil be one more barrier to overcome, when they have already overcome many, many barriers.
Maybe we should celebrate "illegal" immigrants. After all most of us of European decent never asked for visas form the Powhatan, Pamunky, Mataponi, Haudenashone... We didn't get work permits or green cards. When we formed a nation state we broke every treaty we ever made with the first nations of this land. Us European immigrants to this land are all "illegal" immigrants" aren't we?
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