The Independant
July 27, 2014
by Tim Walker
On Wednesday morning, Mike Wilson crossed into Mexico to refill the water
container at the station he maintains a few yards south of the border, and which
has likely saved the lives of migrants who can drink before reaching the US.
Some 20 gallons had gone since he last visited a month ago. Sometimes, he says,
he finds the 50-gallon barrel bone dry. Wilson, who is 65, belongs to a small
but passionate community of activists trying to reduce the number of migrant
deaths in a state not known for its sympathy to their plight.
"Arizona has a reputation as an anti-immigrant state," says Todd Miller,
author of the book Border Patrol Nation. "But there are many people throughout
southern Arizona who organise not only to oppose anti-immigrant laws, but also
to go into the desert and provide humanitarian aid... Mike is doing important
and wonderful work."
Mr Wilson and his partner Susan have also offered food and temporary shelter
to some of the more than 52,000 migrant children who have crossed into the US
since October 2013, most of them fleeing violence in Central America. On Friday,
Mr Obama met with the leaders of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and urged
them to work with the US to help stem the flow of migrants, stating that many of
those who have crossed the border will not be able to stay – with only the
potential for some "narrow" circumstances for humanitarian or refugee
status.
Mr Wilson, though he lives on the outskirts of Tucson, is a member of the
Tohono O'odham Nation, a Native American community of 25,000 on a reservation
the size of Connecticut, sliced in half by a 75-mile stretch of the US-Mexico
border. The Tohono O'odham (meaning "Desert People") have been on this land for
thousands of years and, even after the border was drawn in 1854, could pass back
and forth unimpeded, often via the San Miguel gate.
After 9/11, however, crossing anywhere but at official checkpoints became
illegal. Those Tohono O'odham who lacked the correct paperwork were trapped on
the Mexican side. Meanwhile, the Nation found itself at the frontline of a
broader border crisis. As the US increased security in the urban areas where
they had traditionally crossed, economic migrants from Central America moved to
more isolated routes, such as the Sonoran Desert.
By the mid-2000s, tribal officials estimated that as many as 1,500
undocumented migrants per day crossed the border through the reservation. Having
survived the treacherous journey through Mexico, many were killed instead by the
desert. Since 2001, the Pima County medical examiner in Tucson has received an
average of 164 bodies of border-crossers per year. Around half those deaths
occurred in the Tohono O'odham Nation, making it the deadliest migrant trail in
the US.
Humanitarian groups sprang up to combat the problem, including the NGO Humane
Borders, which maps migrant fatalities to identify the most deadly areas of the
desert, and then deposits water, food and medical supplies in those spots. The
group's executive director, Juanita Molina, says Humane Borders drops up to
1,200 gallons of water per week during July, the most lethal month of the year.
"Many Border Patrol officers and people in the community see us not as
preventing deaths, but as aiding and abetting," she says.
To Mr Wilson's dismay, the Tohono O'odham Nation sided against the migrants.
"They borrowed whole cloth the Department of Homeland Security's narrative,
which describes undocumented migrants as potential terrorists," he says. The
Nation's leaders even passed a resolution banning outside humanitarian groups
from putting out water on the reservation – so Mr Wilson decided to do it
himself. "I'm a one-man organisation, by design," he explains. "I have working
relationships with other groups from the social justice community. But when I
put out water, I do it as a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation."
Mr Wilson's first career was in the US Special Forces, and in 1988 he was
posted to El Salvador during its civil war. "We were supposedly advisers, but
our mission soon changed," he recalls. "We were to prevent as much as possible
the human rights abuses by the military against the civilian population … after
my experience in El Salvador, I really asked myself what side of the table of
justice I wanted to sit on."
During the US-sponsored Central American civil wars of the 1980s, Tucson was
the centre of the Sanctuary movement, a campaign offering safe haven to
refugees. That dormant humanitarian infrastructure provided a foundation for
more recent human rights efforts.
2002, Mr Wilson, by then a Presbyterian lay pastor, set up five water stations –
one on the far side at the San Miguel gate, and four spread across the US side
of the reservation, which he named St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke and St John. He
was forced to replenish the water every couple of weeks. "I could barely keep up
with the demand."
That was until Tohono O'odham Police confiscated four of the stations,
leaving him with just the one on the Mexican side of the border fence. No one
from the Nation's executive was available to talk to The Independent on Sunday,
but Mr Wilson suspects the reservation's leadership stymied his efforts because
it relies on federal funding for infrastructure, education and housing. "The
federal appropriations are buying silence from tribal members," he says.
Since June, Mr Wilson has offered shelter to more than 50 women and children.
Their latest undocumented visitors were a Salvadoran woman, her 13-year-old
daughter and two toddler sons, who crossed the border last Sunday on their way
to the woman's mother, who has lived in Maryland for 25 years. Wilson doesn't
like to pry into his guests' pasts, but he can make educated guesses. “The
mother probably fled to the US as a political refugee during the Sanctuary
movement,” he says. “I didn’t tell the woman that I’d been in El Salvador. It
might open old wounds.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/dying-to-flee-mexico-for-america-arizonas-crackdown-on-illegal-immigrants-9630863.html
Showing posts with label Tohono O'odham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tohono O'odham. Show all posts
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Death tally near border up as heat takes a toll
Arizona Daily Star
July 6, 2011
by Brady McCombs
Arizona's searing summer heat has begun to take its annual toll on illegal border crossers.
The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office has handled the bodies of 15 suspected illegal immigrants in the last nine days. Nine bodies were brought to the office June 29-30, a two-day period that followed eight straight days with temperatures of 107 or higher.
The 28 total border deaths registered since June 1 - which include one handled by the Cochise County Medical Examiner's Office - are actually fewer than in any of the previous nine years over the same time period, shows the Arizona Daily Star's border-death database.
During 2010's record-setting year, 33 bodies were recovered from June 1 to July 5. There were 86 bodies recovered in June and July 2010, making it one of the deadliest two-month periods on record.
The last 16 bodies that have arrived at the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office in Tucson this summer remain unidentified.
The most recent to be positively identified was Luis Enrique Martinez Miranda, 26, who was found June 20 about 12 miles south of Interstate 8 in Pinal County, in the northern part of the Tohono O'odham Nation.
The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office handles the bodies of illegal border crossers found in Pinal and Santa Cruz counties.
As has been the case for years, many of the illegal border crossers have been discovered on the Tohono O'odham Nation, which stretches across 75 miles of U.S.-Mexico border southwest of Tucson. The nation's northern boundaries reach into Pinal County, just south of I-8.
Sergio Estrada Tejada, 37, was found about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border on the southeastern portion of the Tohono O'odham Nation on June 17. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death to be probable hyperthermia.
Despite the recent increase, the border death tally for calendar year 2011 remains well behind last year's pace. The 82 border deaths since Jan. 1 are the fewest at this date since 2003, when there were 79 border deaths through the date, the Arizona Daily Star's border-death database shows. Through July 5, 2010, there had been 124 bodies recovered.
Since 2001, the bodies of more than 2,100 illegal border crossers have been recovered in Arizona's desert.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_f5753533-6454-5500-9e52-dcbce5313109.html
July 6, 2011
by Brady McCombs
Arizona's searing summer heat has begun to take its annual toll on illegal border crossers.
The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office has handled the bodies of 15 suspected illegal immigrants in the last nine days. Nine bodies were brought to the office June 29-30, a two-day period that followed eight straight days with temperatures of 107 or higher.
The 28 total border deaths registered since June 1 - which include one handled by the Cochise County Medical Examiner's Office - are actually fewer than in any of the previous nine years over the same time period, shows the Arizona Daily Star's border-death database.
During 2010's record-setting year, 33 bodies were recovered from June 1 to July 5. There were 86 bodies recovered in June and July 2010, making it one of the deadliest two-month periods on record.
The last 16 bodies that have arrived at the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office in Tucson this summer remain unidentified.
The most recent to be positively identified was Luis Enrique Martinez Miranda, 26, who was found June 20 about 12 miles south of Interstate 8 in Pinal County, in the northern part of the Tohono O'odham Nation.
The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office handles the bodies of illegal border crossers found in Pinal and Santa Cruz counties.
As has been the case for years, many of the illegal border crossers have been discovered on the Tohono O'odham Nation, which stretches across 75 miles of U.S.-Mexico border southwest of Tucson. The nation's northern boundaries reach into Pinal County, just south of I-8.
Sergio Estrada Tejada, 37, was found about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border on the southeastern portion of the Tohono O'odham Nation on June 17. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death to be probable hyperthermia.
Despite the recent increase, the border death tally for calendar year 2011 remains well behind last year's pace. The 82 border deaths since Jan. 1 are the fewest at this date since 2003, when there were 79 border deaths through the date, the Arizona Daily Star's border-death database shows. Through July 5, 2010, there had been 124 bodies recovered.
Since 2001, the bodies of more than 2,100 illegal border crossers have been recovered in Arizona's desert.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_f5753533-6454-5500-9e52-dcbce5313109.html
Friday, February 11, 2011
Arizona proposal would use donations to build border fence
Arizona Daily Star
February 10, 2011
by Howard Fischer
PHOENIX - Saying the state can't depend on the federal government, a Senate panel on Thursday voted to let the governor start taking donations to build a border fence.
The proposal by Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, allows for construction of a new barrier on private property, with the consent of the landowners. Estimates are that would cover about a third of the approximately 370 mile long border, with the balance either on the Tohono O'odham reservation or federal land.
Jaime Ferrant of the Border Action Network called the plan in SB 1406 "fiscally irresponsible.'' He said it is costing the federal government about $4 million a mile to construct the kind of fence designed to keep people and vehicles out.
Smith said he has no firm idea of what it might cost to build a suitable fence. But he said that the costs to the state could be minimal if the state is able to get private donations.
Sen. Al Melvin, R-Tucson, said labor costs could be next to nothing if the state uses inmate labor. And Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, said if the money comes from outside sources, the price tag is irrelevant.
What's behind the plan is the argument that whatever the federal government has build is insufficient, leaving large portions of the state vulnerable.
"We have a crisis in our state and it is caused because our borders are not secure,'' said Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake.
But Allen said the failure of the federal government to build an adequate fence all along the border is more than just incompetence.
"I feel, unfortunately, if the little secret were known, for some reason, somebody's protecting the cartel,'' Allen said. "They don't want to shut the border and the flow of drugs that are coming in here because of how powerful and how wealthy these cartels are.''
Smith's plan, if enacted, would cover only a part of the border.
Antenori said about a third of the area is within the Tohono O'odham Reservation. When national forests and other federal lands are eliminated, he said that leaves private lands along only about a third of the border.
Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said an effort to build a new fence is misplaced. He said the key is fixing the immigration system, a system he said makes it virtually impossible for people to come to this system legally.
Gallardo said securing the border does need to be a part of any solution.
"If you truly want to stop illegal immigration, you have to look at reforming our immigration process, allowing people a legal method to come to this country,'' he said. Once that happens, Gallardo said, "no one's going to want to risk their lives coming through the Arizona desert in 120-degree heat.''
Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, said there is evidence that fencing works. She said there are large areas of the border around Yuma, El Paso and San Diego that have been secured by federally built fences -- fences that don't exist along other large stretches of the border in Southern Arizona.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_539a55c0-357b-11e0-900b-001cc4c03286.html
February 10, 2011
by Howard Fischer
PHOENIX - Saying the state can't depend on the federal government, a Senate panel on Thursday voted to let the governor start taking donations to build a border fence.
The proposal by Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, allows for construction of a new barrier on private property, with the consent of the landowners. Estimates are that would cover about a third of the approximately 370 mile long border, with the balance either on the Tohono O'odham reservation or federal land.
Jaime Ferrant of the Border Action Network called the plan in SB 1406 "fiscally irresponsible.'' He said it is costing the federal government about $4 million a mile to construct the kind of fence designed to keep people and vehicles out.
Smith said he has no firm idea of what it might cost to build a suitable fence. But he said that the costs to the state could be minimal if the state is able to get private donations.
Sen. Al Melvin, R-Tucson, said labor costs could be next to nothing if the state uses inmate labor. And Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, said if the money comes from outside sources, the price tag is irrelevant.
What's behind the plan is the argument that whatever the federal government has build is insufficient, leaving large portions of the state vulnerable.
"We have a crisis in our state and it is caused because our borders are not secure,'' said Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake.
But Allen said the failure of the federal government to build an adequate fence all along the border is more than just incompetence.
"I feel, unfortunately, if the little secret were known, for some reason, somebody's protecting the cartel,'' Allen said. "They don't want to shut the border and the flow of drugs that are coming in here because of how powerful and how wealthy these cartels are.''
Smith's plan, if enacted, would cover only a part of the border.
Antenori said about a third of the area is within the Tohono O'odham Reservation. When national forests and other federal lands are eliminated, he said that leaves private lands along only about a third of the border.
Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said an effort to build a new fence is misplaced. He said the key is fixing the immigration system, a system he said makes it virtually impossible for people to come to this system legally.
Gallardo said securing the border does need to be a part of any solution.
"If you truly want to stop illegal immigration, you have to look at reforming our immigration process, allowing people a legal method to come to this country,'' he said. Once that happens, Gallardo said, "no one's going to want to risk their lives coming through the Arizona desert in 120-degree heat.''
Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, said there is evidence that fencing works. She said there are large areas of the border around Yuma, El Paso and San Diego that have been secured by federally built fences -- fences that don't exist along other large stretches of the border in Southern Arizona.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_539a55c0-357b-11e0-900b-001cc4c03286.html
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Tribe says border fence restricts sacred rites
USA Today
July 15, 2008
by Tim Murphy
WASHINGTON — Calling it an affront to religious freedom, representatives of an Arizona Indian tribe have asked the federal government to halt construction of a border fence across the tribe's Arizona reservation.
Leaders of the Tohono O'odham nation say the fence, currently being built along the U.S.-Mexican border by the Department of Homeland Security, will prevent members of their nation from crossing into Mexico for traditional religious ceremonies.
"This wall and the construction of this wall has destroyed our communities, our burial sites and ancient Tohono O'odham routes throughout our lands," said Ofelia Rivas, according to the Washington Times.
Rivas argued that the fence will violate the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which guarantees free exercise of traditional religious practices for Native Americans. She said that the fence would disrupt such practices by limiting travel to and from O'odham land in Mexico.
The Tohono O'odham reservation straddles the Mexican border for 75 miles in Arizona, and extends south into Mexico. According to the 2000 census, 18,000 people live on the reservation, which spans an area roughly the size of Connecticut.
Rivas' statement is the latest salvo from the Tohono O'odham nation protesting the fence. The community has been at odds with the federal government in recent years over how best to deal with undocumented immigrants and smugglers who cross through tribal lands.
Testifying in front of a House subcommittee last April, the nation's chairman, Ned Norris Jr., called the Department of Homeland Security "inflexible" and "unreasonable," and framed the fence as part of a larger problem facing the nation.
"Our land is now cut in half, with O'odham communities, sacred sites, salt pilgrimage routes, and families divided," Norris said. "We did not cross the 75 miles of border within our reservation lands. The border crossed us."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-07-15-tribe-border_N.htm
July 15, 2008
by Tim Murphy
WASHINGTON — Calling it an affront to religious freedom, representatives of an Arizona Indian tribe have asked the federal government to halt construction of a border fence across the tribe's Arizona reservation.
Leaders of the Tohono O'odham nation say the fence, currently being built along the U.S.-Mexican border by the Department of Homeland Security, will prevent members of their nation from crossing into Mexico for traditional religious ceremonies.
"This wall and the construction of this wall has destroyed our communities, our burial sites and ancient Tohono O'odham routes throughout our lands," said Ofelia Rivas, according to the Washington Times.
Rivas argued that the fence will violate the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which guarantees free exercise of traditional religious practices for Native Americans. She said that the fence would disrupt such practices by limiting travel to and from O'odham land in Mexico.
The Tohono O'odham reservation straddles the Mexican border for 75 miles in Arizona, and extends south into Mexico. According to the 2000 census, 18,000 people live on the reservation, which spans an area roughly the size of Connecticut.
Rivas' statement is the latest salvo from the Tohono O'odham nation protesting the fence. The community has been at odds with the federal government in recent years over how best to deal with undocumented immigrants and smugglers who cross through tribal lands.
Testifying in front of a House subcommittee last April, the nation's chairman, Ned Norris Jr., called the Department of Homeland Security "inflexible" and "unreasonable," and framed the fence as part of a larger problem facing the nation.
"Our land is now cut in half, with O'odham communities, sacred sites, salt pilgrimage routes, and families divided," Norris said. "We did not cross the 75 miles of border within our reservation lands. The border crossed us."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-07-15-tribe-border_N.htm
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