Samaritan Nuggets
THIS IS NOT WHERE I BELONG - November, 2022
This is not where I belong. That’s what was printed on the tee shirt of one of the 200 asylum seekers at Casa Alitas Welcome Center last week where I volunteer to serve lunch. An equally appropriate saying on another young man’s shirt simply says,“Don’t Panic.”
Don’t panic is a good message to keep in mind during a shift at Casa Alitas. On this day the numbers are down a bit due to bus delays delivering families. It is still controlled chaos, but amazingly it all works due to dedicated volunteers and flexible staff.
A woman from Guatemala has an injured leg, and my fellow volunteer, Sara, pushes the woman’s wheel chair to the bathroom. Many ask for location of the bathroom, so we put up a sign with the only marker we can find, a busted green one almost out of ink. Sara draws an arrow to point them in the right direction.
Another request is for shoelaces since their shoelaces have been taken from them. Sara leads the way to the shoelace closet where she hands out many. Black shoelaces are a popular item today.
SueEllen is given a phone by two asylum seekers who need help giving directions to their sponsors. A young man gives me his phone and asks me to say hello to his uncle. In the midst of the noise in which I need to cover my other ear, I hear a desperate voice, “I am his uncle in Virginia. I have an airline ticket for him. Where do I send it?”
Another man asks, “How far is it to walk to the airport?” Another says, “Where am I?” Many want to know the code for the Tucson airport to give to their sponsors who are arranging flights.
We serve the hot lunch midst this chaos. Trays ladened with pasta, meatballs and vegetables, utensils and cookies are delivered in the crowded outdoor tent where the guests are loaded down with paperwork while trying to talk to their families via their phones which have just been returned to them. Some are simply trying to lace up their shoes. Others appear dazed and disoriented.
Three men look like they are from Russia, but they turn out to be from Georgia. One tests positive for Covid and is isolated.
Everybody wants an Oreo cookie for their journey. A few men are from India and need a vegetarian meal which we provide.
The word, “gracias,” after any small kindness becomes a sacred song, sometimes even accompanied with a smile slightly hidden beneath their masks. A few thank us again and again for the meal as if we prepared it with our own hands. They are so grateful.
And like Fred Rogers said, “Look for the helpers.” They are everywhere. A Mexican woman helps pass out meals and shouts orders to get folks lined up; a young man helps us push heavy loaded carts over doorways; another helps load the freezer by squatting down to get the remaining meals out of the insulated container; staffer Christy thanks us volunteers profusely as she rushes by while we clean up.
Despite the language barrier, we still manage to communicate through hand gestures, bits of Spanish, phone translator apps and the language of love which includes a smile, laugh, a touch on the shoulder, a look of understanding. I look at them all as just people, brothers and sisters in this life we share, hungry people who need a helping hand.
At the end of our shift, I feel like we have been dropped into the midst of a world war, but somehow, we all surface, alive and still standing, even smiling. The crying comes later.
Ironically, it is here that I feel most alive. It is here in this sea of suffering that I feel I am doing God’s work. It is here where I feel grounded as one of the helpers in a world gone amuck. But, as always, we rise to the occasion; still, we rise.
--Gail
Don’t panic is a good message to keep in mind during a shift at Casa Alitas. On this day the numbers are down a bit due to bus delays delivering families. It is still controlled chaos, but amazingly it all works due to dedicated volunteers and flexible staff.
A woman from Guatemala has an injured leg, and my fellow volunteer, Sara, pushes the woman’s wheel chair to the bathroom. Many ask for location of the bathroom, so we put up a sign with the only marker we can find, a busted green one almost out of ink. Sara draws an arrow to point them in the right direction.
Another request is for shoelaces since their shoelaces have been taken from them. Sara leads the way to the shoelace closet where she hands out many. Black shoelaces are a popular item today.
SueEllen is given a phone by two asylum seekers who need help giving directions to their sponsors. A young man gives me his phone and asks me to say hello to his uncle. In the midst of the noise in which I need to cover my other ear, I hear a desperate voice, “I am his uncle in Virginia. I have an airline ticket for him. Where do I send it?”
Another man asks, “How far is it to walk to the airport?” Another says, “Where am I?” Many want to know the code for the Tucson airport to give to their sponsors who are arranging flights.
We serve the hot lunch midst this chaos. Trays ladened with pasta, meatballs and vegetables, utensils and cookies are delivered in the crowded outdoor tent where the guests are loaded down with paperwork while trying to talk to their families via their phones which have just been returned to them. Some are simply trying to lace up their shoes. Others appear dazed and disoriented.
Three men look like they are from Russia, but they turn out to be from Georgia. One tests positive for Covid and is isolated.
Everybody wants an Oreo cookie for their journey. A few men are from India and need a vegetarian meal which we provide.
The word, “gracias,” after any small kindness becomes a sacred song, sometimes even accompanied with a smile slightly hidden beneath their masks. A few thank us again and again for the meal as if we prepared it with our own hands. They are so grateful.
And like Fred Rogers said, “Look for the helpers.” They are everywhere. A Mexican woman helps pass out meals and shouts orders to get folks lined up; a young man helps us push heavy loaded carts over doorways; another helps load the freezer by squatting down to get the remaining meals out of the insulated container; staffer Christy thanks us volunteers profusely as she rushes by while we clean up.
Despite the language barrier, we still manage to communicate through hand gestures, bits of Spanish, phone translator apps and the language of love which includes a smile, laugh, a touch on the shoulder, a look of understanding. I look at them all as just people, brothers and sisters in this life we share, hungry people who need a helping hand.
At the end of our shift, I feel like we have been dropped into the midst of a world war, but somehow, we all surface, alive and still standing, even smiling. The crying comes later.
Ironically, it is here that I feel most alive. It is here in this sea of suffering that I feel I am doing God’s work. It is here where I feel grounded as one of the helpers in a world gone amuck. But, as always, we rise to the occasion; still, we rise.
--Gail
LOOK FOR THE HELPERS - April, 2022
Gracias, de nada; Thank you; you’re welcome.
Muchas gracias, de nada. Thank you so much; you're welcome.
The language of gratitude. I smile with my eyes. My mouth is covered by my mask. There are close to a hundred asylum seekers today at Casa Alitas, a program of Catholic Community Services in Tucson that provides humanitarian aid and support to asylum seekers recently released from Border Patrol or ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). They arrive in bus loads, never on the schedule we are given, but we lunch servers along with a cadre of volunteers are ready. The food has been delivered and is kept warm in insulated containers. And the guests are grateful.
I heap rolls, butter, utensils and sweet banana bread chunks on their hot meal container clasped in their arms. Today the meal is meat and vegetables on rice. There is a vegetarian option, and because there are many asylum seekers from various cultures and food traditions, they often select the vegetarian meal.
There is no other way to describe the scene at the shelter at mealtime except to call it controlled chaos. The bus bringing asylum seekers unloads them in groups of 20-40, mostly families with small children. They carry their meager belongings in a clear plastic bag. Their phones have been taken away from them, but now returned, so they’re anxious to contact family. They are given forms to fill out for the next step in their journey. I cannot imagine what it must be like: a crying toddler on the mother’s hip, a lap full of paperwork to fill out, a phone to call your mama; and the covid testers calling you out for tests; and the director of the shelter explaining to them in loud Spanish how the process works.
One woman who speaks only Portuguese is frantic because she has been separated from her husband, and she must wait till the one and only volunteer who speaks Portuguese arrives to translate. Two young college women on spring break from Purdue help us distribute meals along with a senior University of Arizona student who regularly shows up to help as part of her coursework.
It’s Easter weekend and the beginning of Passover, and a friend has organized a group of church women to supply gift bags for the children as a special treat. She has brought the gift bags to the shelter the day before. They contain a small stuffed animal, some activity books and crayons. The Purdue girls pass them out to smiles all around.
By the time we end our three-hour shift, the crowds have been fed; tested for Covid and assembled either for an overnight stay or bus ride to their sponsors. They have a travel bag for the journey with snacks and water. Even as we leave, they continue to wave and say Gracias, gracias. De nada, we say. It takes a village. As Fred Rogers said, his mother always told him, “Look for the helpers.”
--Gail
Muchas gracias, de nada. Thank you so much; you're welcome.
The language of gratitude. I smile with my eyes. My mouth is covered by my mask. There are close to a hundred asylum seekers today at Casa Alitas, a program of Catholic Community Services in Tucson that provides humanitarian aid and support to asylum seekers recently released from Border Patrol or ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). They arrive in bus loads, never on the schedule we are given, but we lunch servers along with a cadre of volunteers are ready. The food has been delivered and is kept warm in insulated containers. And the guests are grateful.
I heap rolls, butter, utensils and sweet banana bread chunks on their hot meal container clasped in their arms. Today the meal is meat and vegetables on rice. There is a vegetarian option, and because there are many asylum seekers from various cultures and food traditions, they often select the vegetarian meal.
There is no other way to describe the scene at the shelter at mealtime except to call it controlled chaos. The bus bringing asylum seekers unloads them in groups of 20-40, mostly families with small children. They carry their meager belongings in a clear plastic bag. Their phones have been taken away from them, but now returned, so they’re anxious to contact family. They are given forms to fill out for the next step in their journey. I cannot imagine what it must be like: a crying toddler on the mother’s hip, a lap full of paperwork to fill out, a phone to call your mama; and the covid testers calling you out for tests; and the director of the shelter explaining to them in loud Spanish how the process works.
One woman who speaks only Portuguese is frantic because she has been separated from her husband, and she must wait till the one and only volunteer who speaks Portuguese arrives to translate. Two young college women on spring break from Purdue help us distribute meals along with a senior University of Arizona student who regularly shows up to help as part of her coursework.
It’s Easter weekend and the beginning of Passover, and a friend has organized a group of church women to supply gift bags for the children as a special treat. She has brought the gift bags to the shelter the day before. They contain a small stuffed animal, some activity books and crayons. The Purdue girls pass them out to smiles all around.
By the time we end our three-hour shift, the crowds have been fed; tested for Covid and assembled either for an overnight stay or bus ride to their sponsors. They have a travel bag for the journey with snacks and water. Even as we leave, they continue to wave and say Gracias, gracias. De nada, we say. It takes a village. As Fred Rogers said, his mother always told him, “Look for the helpers.”
--Gail
WHO IS TEACHING WHO? - Spring 2022
My husband, Leonard and I have had several careers but our passion was teaching English as a Second Language. We were fortunate to teach many years before retiring in 2017. We taught ESL for 15 years overseas in the International School System and ten years teaching English to refugees and immigrants at Highline College near our home in Seattle. When we retired, we were looking for a way to “give back”, a common thread among the boomers, and were lucky enough to be introduced to the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans. We were quite impressed with the work they were doing in Arizona and decided to volunteer for a couple of months. We were not sure how we could help so started thinking about the skills we might offer and of course fell back on teaching. We had seen how the gift of language can dramatically change someone's life. We packed our Honda SUV with school supplies and headed for Nogales, Arizona. Nogales was chosen simply because we couldn’t find an Airbnb rental in any other city that could accommodate us for the two and a half months we would be away. So we didn’t choose Nogales, Nogales chose us. We were excited and anxious. We didn’t know where we were going to teach we just knew that was our dream. About two weeks after arriving we were lucky enough to meet with a GVS volunteer who took us to visit a migrant shelter across the border in Nogales, Mexico. Yes, there are two cities named Nogales…one in Arizona, USA and the other in Sonora, Mexico. The shelter houses 120 men, women and children, all waiting for papers from the U.S granting them legal passage into the USA under an asylum provision. This shelter provided security, food, clothes and hope for the residents. It was beautifully run by a wonderful woman who loved all who entered. It was a community…. the residents provided the work whether building a new dorm, tending the vegetable garden or cooking meals. We knew, just knew, that this was our place and that we could offer English to the residents. I mean we were the experts, weren’t we? We could give them a head start into their new country. Even a little English would offer them a better opportunity for a good job, an easier time in school and therefore a better life. We met with the headmistress and she graciously accepted our offer as volunteer English teachers. I would be teaching the kids and Leonard would be teaching the adults. We were ready.
I noticed that my students were not focused. They were disruptive, they were hostile, not to me necessarily, but to each other and appeared to be disinterested regardless of what was being taught. This had never happened before…what was going on? I didn’t understand. Why weren’t they engaging? What was I doing wrong? I started observing the classes and noticed the only time the students were content was during the creative moments. If they were painting or singing or getting their hands dirty, they were much calmer. Then I realized the sad truth…..this class was full of traumatized kids.
You cannot walk up to U.S. Immigration and say, let me enter the United States under an asylum provision without solid evidence that your life was in danger in your home country and will be in danger if you return. Everyone in the shelter had experienced unimaginable challenges. Of course, they couldn’t concentrate, they were basically suffering from what we would refer to as PTSD. After some research, I realized, they didn’t need English, they needed a space to heal. I tossed the English books and replaced them with art projects. I forgot the grammar lessons and substituted songs, I limited the conversation drills and added smiles and hugs. It made all the difference. A few weeks passed. Yes, the class learned a couple English phrases but what I really noticed was how much calmer they were, how much kinder. They had started to trust me but more importantly they had started to trust themselves and each other. They were making friends. Magic markers that were once fought over were now shared. Scissors and glue sticks, once hoarded, rested in common areas. A difference was made.
So do you have what it takes to come to the border and volunteer? Yes, you do. Everyone has skills and talents. I thought my strongest skill was teaching a little English but realized that it was adaptation. These darling kids taught me that everyone has something to offer…but sometimes you need to look a little closer. One of the GVS volunteers told me, " always do what’s best for the migrants." She was right. If you follow that sage advice you will find your talents….and they just may be different than the ones you thought you were offering.
I will end with this, my favorite quote. I don’t know who wrote it but love it. “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito”
--Leonard and Kathy
I noticed that my students were not focused. They were disruptive, they were hostile, not to me necessarily, but to each other and appeared to be disinterested regardless of what was being taught. This had never happened before…what was going on? I didn’t understand. Why weren’t they engaging? What was I doing wrong? I started observing the classes and noticed the only time the students were content was during the creative moments. If they were painting or singing or getting their hands dirty, they were much calmer. Then I realized the sad truth…..this class was full of traumatized kids.
You cannot walk up to U.S. Immigration and say, let me enter the United States under an asylum provision without solid evidence that your life was in danger in your home country and will be in danger if you return. Everyone in the shelter had experienced unimaginable challenges. Of course, they couldn’t concentrate, they were basically suffering from what we would refer to as PTSD. After some research, I realized, they didn’t need English, they needed a space to heal. I tossed the English books and replaced them with art projects. I forgot the grammar lessons and substituted songs, I limited the conversation drills and added smiles and hugs. It made all the difference. A few weeks passed. Yes, the class learned a couple English phrases but what I really noticed was how much calmer they were, how much kinder. They had started to trust me but more importantly they had started to trust themselves and each other. They were making friends. Magic markers that were once fought over were now shared. Scissors and glue sticks, once hoarded, rested in common areas. A difference was made.
So do you have what it takes to come to the border and volunteer? Yes, you do. Everyone has skills and talents. I thought my strongest skill was teaching a little English but realized that it was adaptation. These darling kids taught me that everyone has something to offer…but sometimes you need to look a little closer. One of the GVS volunteers told me, " always do what’s best for the migrants." She was right. If you follow that sage advice you will find your talents….and they just may be different than the ones you thought you were offering.
I will end with this, my favorite quote. I don’t know who wrote it but love it. “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito”
--Leonard and Kathy
CROSS PLANTING WITH THE SISTERS - February 2022
Early morning drive to Cochise County to participate in planting a cross to mark the place 28 year old Jose froze to death in the desert. This is the 153rd cross that Sister Judy from the School Sisters of Notre Dame has planted in the last few years in this area. We met at her house in Douglas for a send off. Then we drove out about 30 miles on dirt roads to locate the spot in the hills. January nights at the 4000 foot elevation are cold! The day was cold.The local Deacon Gabriel led us in a beautiful ritual of memorial for Jose. His family in Mexico may not even know what happened to him. We prayed for them. My heart is full and troubled.
--Kathleen
--Kathleen
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FROM ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, TO THE BORDERLANDS - Spring 2022
Bob and I recently returned home to Rochester, NY, after spending a month in Green Valley involved with activities of the Green Valley - Sahuarita Samaritans and the Border Community Alliance (BCA). Although the activities and mission of the two groups are different, BCA lectures and trips complement what we do with the GVS Samaritans by helping us learn about the cultures and history on both sides of the border and giving perspective to the issues surrounding migration.
Trying to better understand the migration issues, I have to back way up in my mind and attempt to imagine what could be so frightening and life-threatening to cause someone to desperately try to flee their country to feel safe. I understand this is the motivation of migrants but sitting here in Rochester in the comfort of my own home and feeling comparatively safe, it’s hard to imagine feeling so scared that I would do anything I could to leave my country. But, this is the situation for millions around the globe and I am seeing it for myself on the Mexican border.
Solving migration issues, if that can ever happen, is complex and frustrating. What can I do to help? Working with the GVS Samaritans provides me information about how to help and the opportunity to participate in efforts to provide humanitarian aid. Helping serve meals, going on desert searches, and participating in the Sonora Migrant Project does not directly help solve the big issues of migration. But, it does give me the opportunity to put a bright spot in someone’s day, ease their burden a bit and give them hope to continue.
Already wondering, how will the situation at the US-Mexican border be different when we return to Green Valley next year?
-- Bob and Sue
Trying to better understand the migration issues, I have to back way up in my mind and attempt to imagine what could be so frightening and life-threatening to cause someone to desperately try to flee their country to feel safe. I understand this is the motivation of migrants but sitting here in Rochester in the comfort of my own home and feeling comparatively safe, it’s hard to imagine feeling so scared that I would do anything I could to leave my country. But, this is the situation for millions around the globe and I am seeing it for myself on the Mexican border.
Solving migration issues, if that can ever happen, is complex and frustrating. What can I do to help? Working with the GVS Samaritans provides me information about how to help and the opportunity to participate in efforts to provide humanitarian aid. Helping serve meals, going on desert searches, and participating in the Sonora Migrant Project does not directly help solve the big issues of migration. But, it does give me the opportunity to put a bright spot in someone’s day, ease their burden a bit and give them hope to continue.
Already wondering, how will the situation at the US-Mexican border be different when we return to Green Valley next year?
-- Bob and Sue
Quilting Communities Together - Jan 24, 2022
We spent a month in early 2022 in southern Arizona, in large part to participate in activities with the Green Valley-Sahuarita (GV-S) Samaritans. Avoiding Oregon winter storms and visiting friends and family were also motivations.
What I was reminded of this time was how faithfully the GVS-Samaritans (and other humanitarian groups along our international border with Mexico) carry out their missions of saving lives in the desert. Every day, volunteers throughout the Tucson Sector (a federal designation for 262 miles) search for migrants in distress, deliver water, and work at shelters serving migrants. It takes more than a village—it takes a cadre of volunteers who are well-organized, supported, and perhaps most importantly, dedicated.
During our brief snow-birding stint, we joined GVS-Samaritans in their work. We enjoyed the Covid-constrained, open-air Border Issues Fair at Good Shepherd UCC, hearing from inspiring speakers like Border Wall photo documentarian John Kurc; Sister Lika Macias from Casa de La Misericordia in Nogales, Sonora; and Anthony Pelino with the Florence Project, a nonprofit immigration legal services program. Bruce joined two day-long desert searches. Judy crossed the border to visit a family shelter for asylum-seekers. She was able to deliver hand-made quilts from Bienvenidos Quilts, a gift from women from Portland First Congregational UCC.
We met other humanitarian workers and discussed border issues with friendly hunters, store clerks, librarians and federal border agents. We saw first-hand the personal, political, economic, environmental and societal harm inflicted every day on communities and the individuals and families who live near the border in the desert.
We will leave Arizona impressed by the hardscrabble realities of desert life and by the compassionate communities who make living here not just tolerable, but enjoyable and rewarding. Even during what may seem the worst of times, we witnessed many examples of the best of times. Places like Nogales, a city divided by an international border, are quilted together for our common good. Border life is definitely a patchwork, but we are part of the fabric. It’s a life-changing experience wherever we are on life’s journey.
-Bruce
What I was reminded of this time was how faithfully the GVS-Samaritans (and other humanitarian groups along our international border with Mexico) carry out their missions of saving lives in the desert. Every day, volunteers throughout the Tucson Sector (a federal designation for 262 miles) search for migrants in distress, deliver water, and work at shelters serving migrants. It takes more than a village—it takes a cadre of volunteers who are well-organized, supported, and perhaps most importantly, dedicated.
During our brief snow-birding stint, we joined GVS-Samaritans in their work. We enjoyed the Covid-constrained, open-air Border Issues Fair at Good Shepherd UCC, hearing from inspiring speakers like Border Wall photo documentarian John Kurc; Sister Lika Macias from Casa de La Misericordia in Nogales, Sonora; and Anthony Pelino with the Florence Project, a nonprofit immigration legal services program. Bruce joined two day-long desert searches. Judy crossed the border to visit a family shelter for asylum-seekers. She was able to deliver hand-made quilts from Bienvenidos Quilts, a gift from women from Portland First Congregational UCC.
We met other humanitarian workers and discussed border issues with friendly hunters, store clerks, librarians and federal border agents. We saw first-hand the personal, political, economic, environmental and societal harm inflicted every day on communities and the individuals and families who live near the border in the desert.
We will leave Arizona impressed by the hardscrabble realities of desert life and by the compassionate communities who make living here not just tolerable, but enjoyable and rewarding. Even during what may seem the worst of times, we witnessed many examples of the best of times. Places like Nogales, a city divided by an international border, are quilted together for our common good. Border life is definitely a patchwork, but we are part of the fabric. It’s a life-changing experience wherever we are on life’s journey.
-Bruce
Ways We're Responding - December 13, 2021
Reports at the December 13th Samaritans meeting provided a strong reminder of how many ways caring people are attempting to deal with the issues on the border. While Green Valley/ Sahuarita folks on searches haven't reported seeing migrants recently, Tucson Samaritans have been encountering them. Those who are leaving water in selected locations report replacing as many as 35 gallons when they go out. Casa Alitas in Tucson reported serving 2603 people during November, including 175 children. These are folks with asylum hearings scheduled who are working out the arrangements to go to family members or a sponsor in the meantime. A new group, Arizona Immigration Alliance (formerly known as the alliance4action Immigration Action Group) has been reorganized for those wishing to get involved more politically. For more information, contact Judy Konopaski, budjude@msn.com. And that's just a glimpse of the ways we're responding to the current situation on the border.
-Sandra
-Sandra
The View was Unforgettable - November 29, 2021
Jorge sat next to me in the passenger’s seat as we headed north on I-10. His head turned often, left then right, scanning the budget hotels, downtown Tucson and the Catalina Mountains in the distance. I could see in the rear view mirror his wife and two young sons were doing the same.
“Is it ok if I take photos?” he said holding up his cell phone. His question was in Portuguese, and I answered in Spanish, a system that sort of worked using his native language from Brazil and my limited Spanish. “Of course,” I said. Jorge panned the frontage roads, the modest downtown skyline and the mountains with his phone. They were sights I take for granted and have honestly never thought to be that spectacular. For Jorge and has family, recent immigrants seeking asylum, the view was unforgettable.
We were nearing the exit where we would arrive at The Inn Project shelter, based in a motel. It’s where the four of them would spend the next night or two before flying across country to Pennsylvania to stay with a cousin, their sponsor. Jorge was carefully preparing to say something. I was important. I could tell. I rolled to stop at the stoplight and the bottom of the exit. Jorge turned in his seat to face me.
“I am so happy. This is the happiest day of my life. I am so grateful to be here. Thank you. Thank you, so much,” his head bowing slightly as his words trailed off.
* * *
Edwardo, his family and I arrived ahead of the others at The Inn shelter. There were two more cars bringing immigrants from the Casa Alitas, a welcome and help center for the asylum seekers dropped off by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). We unloaded the onion sack bag from the back of my car. It’s what the immigration authorities had given them for all their belongings, but they had few things. Edwardo easily slung it over his shoulder as I walked him and his wife, and eleven-year-old daughter, up the stairs to our office, a motel room. The three of them were exceedingly polite, each one with a “gracias” at every turn and direction as I led them inside.
“Would you like water, lemonade or coffee,” I offered in Spanish. Their eyes lit up when I got to “café.” The microwave, a little water and Nestle’s crystals whisked into coffee. Each took the coffee in both hands, holding the foam cup almost in holy fashion. “Gracias!” It was more than instant coffee.
A few minutes later the other immigrants arrived with their drivers. Gustavo, our office manager, gave all of them a short orientation and welcome. They heard about some of the things they might expect at The Inn, various help and resources during their stay. Then they could go to their rooms. I took the families in turn.
“Shall we go to your room?” I nodded to Edwardo. The three of them got up from the folding chairs and we walked down the motel corridor, no more than 25 feet to their room. I tapped the card key to the door and opened it. “Here we are. This is your room.” The three stood frozen in place looking around the room. Red and orange bedspreads on two full-size beds, a floral pattern out of the 80s. A dresser painted black with chipped corners. A microwave on the dresser probably dated back to the 80s, as well. The room was dated and it was modest, but it was clean and it was theirs. It was theirs for tonight and maybe the next, until they would fly across the country to an aunt in a place nearly 3,000 miles from a life they escaped in Colombia.
I pointed out the toiletry bags, snack bags and water we placed in each of the rooms and asked if they needed anything else. Then I said once more, as I said when I met them, “Bienvenidos.” Stepping out of the room, I turned glancing in their room’s window as I walked passed. The little girl sat on the edge of the red and orange bed. Edwardo stood, embracing his wife, their shoulders shaking as they cried.
* * *
The names of these immigrants have been changed. For more information about these Tucson organizations: Casa Alitas (www.ccs-soaz.org); The Inn Project (www.theinnofsa.org)
-Alan K
“Is it ok if I take photos?” he said holding up his cell phone. His question was in Portuguese, and I answered in Spanish, a system that sort of worked using his native language from Brazil and my limited Spanish. “Of course,” I said. Jorge panned the frontage roads, the modest downtown skyline and the mountains with his phone. They were sights I take for granted and have honestly never thought to be that spectacular. For Jorge and has family, recent immigrants seeking asylum, the view was unforgettable.
We were nearing the exit where we would arrive at The Inn Project shelter, based in a motel. It’s where the four of them would spend the next night or two before flying across country to Pennsylvania to stay with a cousin, their sponsor. Jorge was carefully preparing to say something. I was important. I could tell. I rolled to stop at the stoplight and the bottom of the exit. Jorge turned in his seat to face me.
“I am so happy. This is the happiest day of my life. I am so grateful to be here. Thank you. Thank you, so much,” his head bowing slightly as his words trailed off.
* * *
Edwardo, his family and I arrived ahead of the others at The Inn shelter. There were two more cars bringing immigrants from the Casa Alitas, a welcome and help center for the asylum seekers dropped off by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). We unloaded the onion sack bag from the back of my car. It’s what the immigration authorities had given them for all their belongings, but they had few things. Edwardo easily slung it over his shoulder as I walked him and his wife, and eleven-year-old daughter, up the stairs to our office, a motel room. The three of them were exceedingly polite, each one with a “gracias” at every turn and direction as I led them inside.
“Would you like water, lemonade or coffee,” I offered in Spanish. Their eyes lit up when I got to “café.” The microwave, a little water and Nestle’s crystals whisked into coffee. Each took the coffee in both hands, holding the foam cup almost in holy fashion. “Gracias!” It was more than instant coffee.
A few minutes later the other immigrants arrived with their drivers. Gustavo, our office manager, gave all of them a short orientation and welcome. They heard about some of the things they might expect at The Inn, various help and resources during their stay. Then they could go to their rooms. I took the families in turn.
“Shall we go to your room?” I nodded to Edwardo. The three of them got up from the folding chairs and we walked down the motel corridor, no more than 25 feet to their room. I tapped the card key to the door and opened it. “Here we are. This is your room.” The three stood frozen in place looking around the room. Red and orange bedspreads on two full-size beds, a floral pattern out of the 80s. A dresser painted black with chipped corners. A microwave on the dresser probably dated back to the 80s, as well. The room was dated and it was modest, but it was clean and it was theirs. It was theirs for tonight and maybe the next, until they would fly across the country to an aunt in a place nearly 3,000 miles from a life they escaped in Colombia.
I pointed out the toiletry bags, snack bags and water we placed in each of the rooms and asked if they needed anything else. Then I said once more, as I said when I met them, “Bienvenidos.” Stepping out of the room, I turned glancing in their room’s window as I walked passed. The little girl sat on the edge of the red and orange bed. Edwardo stood, embracing his wife, their shoulders shaking as they cried.
* * *
The names of these immigrants have been changed. For more information about these Tucson organizations: Casa Alitas (www.ccs-soaz.org); The Inn Project (www.theinnofsa.org)
-Alan K
A Search in the Desert - November 29, 2021
Our cautions around Covid kept us away from Samaritan work for more than a year, but three of us were back again. Back with Laurie on the backroads of the desert in search of migrants in distress, in need of water, food or first aid.
On our way, the first stop was at the border wall, near the port of entry in Sasabe. Though Covid kept most of us at home, it didn’t halt the contractors building or modifying the wall. A year ago, the wall was 18 feet tall. Today it’s been replaced with a wall 30 feet tall, painted black. Like Darth Vader, it towers over the tiny buildings of the port of entry.
Leaving the wall, our search for migrants took us back north, then west and then south once more. A narrow gravel road up the mountain and back down near the Tohono O’odham reservation. Rocks and ruts slowed us at times to short lunges forward. This is a remote part of the desert, where more migrants are attempting to cross because of changes to the wall. And, as a result, more migrants are dying in the process.
We drive to the site of a tiny community or ranch, now in ruins. Time has worn adobe bricks thin, but some rock walls are still intact in this place called Presumido. At the side of road, about 50 feet from the ruins, we spot a black water bottle a migrant has carried from Mexico. It’s been emptied and left behind. This is a migrant trail.
Other Samaritans have left two gallons of water at the ruins for any other migrants passing through and in need of water. Later in the day, we learn from a Tucson Samaritan report, that they had left more water at the ruins, but the water got vandalized. Those Samaritans observed tourists arriving on ATVs, then apparently taking knives to five of the newly-placed plastic bottles. The vandalism felt more sad than anything.
Samaritans come to the desert with a different intent and with a different heart.
-Alan K
On our way, the first stop was at the border wall, near the port of entry in Sasabe. Though Covid kept most of us at home, it didn’t halt the contractors building or modifying the wall. A year ago, the wall was 18 feet tall. Today it’s been replaced with a wall 30 feet tall, painted black. Like Darth Vader, it towers over the tiny buildings of the port of entry.
Leaving the wall, our search for migrants took us back north, then west and then south once more. A narrow gravel road up the mountain and back down near the Tohono O’odham reservation. Rocks and ruts slowed us at times to short lunges forward. This is a remote part of the desert, where more migrants are attempting to cross because of changes to the wall. And, as a result, more migrants are dying in the process.
We drive to the site of a tiny community or ranch, now in ruins. Time has worn adobe bricks thin, but some rock walls are still intact in this place called Presumido. At the side of road, about 50 feet from the ruins, we spot a black water bottle a migrant has carried from Mexico. It’s been emptied and left behind. This is a migrant trail.
Other Samaritans have left two gallons of water at the ruins for any other migrants passing through and in need of water. Later in the day, we learn from a Tucson Samaritan report, that they had left more water at the ruins, but the water got vandalized. Those Samaritans observed tourists arriving on ATVs, then apparently taking knives to five of the newly-placed plastic bottles. The vandalism felt more sad than anything.
Samaritans come to the desert with a different intent and with a different heart.
-Alan K
Being Prepared for Anything - November 15, 2021
When Samaritans—longtime and brand new—drive out in a marked car to search for migrants in trouble, or when they provide aid at migrant shelters across the border—they must be prepared for anything: a blanket found by a previous searcher, hung in a tree to aid a future traveler; National Guard members from North Dakota serving with Border Patrol for a year; mounds of basura—migrant possessions forcibly discarded—on a just-discovered trail; a 17-year-old boy with a desperate need to get to Florida; certain road conditions promising danger; 14 babies in a shelter and two more expected. And, another young man shot in the mouth by a cartel because he wouldn’t carry drugs north. Drugs, because of U.S. demand.
Where does this horror come from? How can man treat others with such cruelty and disdain? What is our own role in this endless tragedy?
-Judith
Where does this horror come from? How can man treat others with such cruelty and disdain? What is our own role in this endless tragedy?
-Judith
Our Mission - November 1, 2021
Our Mission is to save lives and relieve suffering in the Arizona borderlands. It was manifested in a recent interaction with a migrant near the border in rough terrain. He came up to the vehicle window and said "Don’t hurt me. I am a good man.” His English was fluent because he lived in Denver. Our Search team rendered humanitarian aid, wishing they could do more but knowing they could not. It is unusual to know what happens subsequent to a meeting like this, but in this case, our team learned he had been apprehended some 15 miles north of where they met him. After that, a subsequent communication was from Denver, since the man had been expelled and immediately tried to get home again, which he did. He thanked the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans for saving his life. Mission accomplished.
-Laurie
-Laurie
Staying Current - October 18, 2021
One part of the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans’ mission to save lives and relieve suffering in the borderlands is to provide and support humanitarian aid along the border in Nogales and Sasabe, Sonora. There are migrants who are waiting to make asylum claims, those who have been returned to wait in Mexico per the Remain in Mexico policy, those who have been expelled until Title 42 and those who are being deported—first to Hermosillo by bus and then flown to Tapachula in southern Mexico or other points south. Hundreds of men, women and children are affected. One group of 160 arrived one day last week at the DeConcini Port of Entry, including 71 children.
Migrants arrive in Nogales or Sasabe with almost nothing after an arduous journey or a distressing encounter with our justice system. The Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans are part of the coalition that brings food, water, clothing, supplies and kindness to hundreds who use the Kino Border Initiative’s Comedor and other shelters in Nogales. The Sonora Migrant Project likewise supports those deported through Sasabe. Additionally, many migrants are being deported laterally and are sent to Arizona after being picked up in Texas.
If all this sounds confusing, that’s because it is. These are just band aids for our broken systems of asylum, immigration and visas. So many people of good will are repeating these humanitarian efforts all along the U.S./Mexico border but it is hard to keep track of the constant changes in policy, regulations and law that seem to occur almost weekly.
A relatively easy way to stay current with the many changes in immigration is to use the American Immigration Council website where there is a current news section, a blog and a weekly news letter with the latest.
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org
- Katrina
Migrants arrive in Nogales or Sasabe with almost nothing after an arduous journey or a distressing encounter with our justice system. The Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans are part of the coalition that brings food, water, clothing, supplies and kindness to hundreds who use the Kino Border Initiative’s Comedor and other shelters in Nogales. The Sonora Migrant Project likewise supports those deported through Sasabe. Additionally, many migrants are being deported laterally and are sent to Arizona after being picked up in Texas.
If all this sounds confusing, that’s because it is. These are just band aids for our broken systems of asylum, immigration and visas. So many people of good will are repeating these humanitarian efforts all along the U.S./Mexico border but it is hard to keep track of the constant changes in policy, regulations and law that seem to occur almost weekly.
A relatively easy way to stay current with the many changes in immigration is to use the American Immigration Council website where there is a current news section, a blog and a weekly news letter with the latest.
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org
- Katrina
Definition of Asylum - Oct 4, 2021
What is the definition of “asylum”? Why does the U.S. government continue to delay reform of its aging immigration law? While Title 42 renders daily heartbreak and life-threatening confusion at the border, perhaps confusion is the real objective.
ASYLUM — Oxford English Reference Dictionary, rev. 2d ed. — 1. Sanctuary: protection, esp. for those pursued by law (seek asylum). 2. esp. (historical) an institution offering shelter and support to distressed or destitute individuals, esp. the mentally ill. ^ Political asylum - protection given by a state to a political refugee from another country.
TITLE 42 — Google: Physicians for Human Rights — Toward the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the…administration overrode the objections of public health experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and compelled the CDC to issue an order under Title 42 U.S.C. section 265 of the 1944 Public Health and Service Act that closed the border to migrants and asylum seekers…used public health as a pretext to summarily expel children and adults seeking refuge at the U.S. border…
- Judith
ASYLUM — Oxford English Reference Dictionary, rev. 2d ed. — 1. Sanctuary: protection, esp. for those pursued by law (seek asylum). 2. esp. (historical) an institution offering shelter and support to distressed or destitute individuals, esp. the mentally ill. ^ Political asylum - protection given by a state to a political refugee from another country.
TITLE 42 — Google: Physicians for Human Rights — Toward the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the…administration overrode the objections of public health experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and compelled the CDC to issue an order under Title 42 U.S.C. section 265 of the 1944 Public Health and Service Act that closed the border to migrants and asylum seekers…used public health as a pretext to summarily expel children and adults seeking refuge at the U.S. border…
- Judith
Being Vigilant - Sept 20, 2021
This morning's Samaritans' meeting reinforced the need for us all to be vigilant regarding what's happening on the border, particularly with regard to the treatment of asylum seekers, especially the Haitians we're
hearing a lot about. It appears that Homeland Security is flying lots of them out of the country without an opportunity to make their credible fear claims before an immigration court. Policy and procedures regarding asylum seekers are at best confusing and seemingly inconsistent and at worst seem arbitrary and inhumane. Contacting our congressional representatives and Homeland Security with our concerns is one way we can respond. The Department of Homeland Security public response line is 202-282-8495.
- Sandra
hearing a lot about. It appears that Homeland Security is flying lots of them out of the country without an opportunity to make their credible fear claims before an immigration court. Policy and procedures regarding asylum seekers are at best confusing and seemingly inconsistent and at worst seem arbitrary and inhumane. Contacting our congressional representatives and Homeland Security with our concerns is one way we can respond. The Department of Homeland Security public response line is 202-282-8495.
- Sandra
A Man Called Angel: A Journey from Venezuela - September 6, 2021
The US State Department issued a warning that Venezuela is not safe for tourists,“due to crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, and detention of U.S.citizens.”
Imagine, however, that you live in Venezuela. When you can, you work as a bricklayer. But wages are only $2 a month. Your father is a teacher, and you want an education. You’re young, 28 years old, but you find little hope of success as life becomes extremely difficult and more dangerous. If you fight against the political system, you are a target and soon start to receive death threats.
Like so many who become desperate with few options, Angel decided to leave Venezuela and migrate to Colombia where he had a sister. But the lack of opportunities there brought him to the decision that his only choice was to migrate to the United States and seek asylum.
And so began Angel’s desperate trek, a grueling journey which took him six months from Venezuela through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico eventually bringing him to the U.S./Mexico border.
With no money to speak of to arrange transportation, his only option was to walk. That meant he had to cross the Darien Gap, a dense 60-mile section of rainforest spanning Panama and Colombia. Part of the Pan-American highway stretching from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile, it is the only gap and described as one of the most dangerous treks in the world. The Darien Gap is famous for one thing: things that will kill you.
It took Angel three days to cover the 60-mile Gap while traversing the mountainous jungle, a swamp infested with deadly creatures, armed guerrillas, drug traffickers and hostile indigenous tribes.
The rest of his journey was filled with tales of kidnapping, terrible treatment, rivers that had to be crossed, and corrupt countries where he had to pay bribes in order to keep going. Combined with endless walking, the climbing of mountains, hitchhiking when he could and a dangerous trip atop La Bestia (a network of Mexico freight trains upon which it is estimated 400,000-500,000 migrants ride each year to get to the U.S. border). At a shelter in Mexico, he was able to pass a credible fear interview and was fortunate to get the help of a lawyer who felt he had a reasonable case to seek political asylum in the U.S.
Today Angel is living in Green Valley with a Samaritan. He volunteers at the local food bank and other nonprofits. Hopeful for a better future, while he awaits his asylum hearing, he finds time to play the guitar and continues to smile.
People often ask us Samaritans why refugees and asylum seekers keep coming when he journey is so dangerous and life-threatening. Angel’s story is just one of thousands of tales that can be told. With the growth in the number of international migrants on the rise (now at 281 million people living outside their country of origin) they will keep coming.
Why? You ask. Because they are desperate. That’s why.
- Gail
Imagine, however, that you live in Venezuela. When you can, you work as a bricklayer. But wages are only $2 a month. Your father is a teacher, and you want an education. You’re young, 28 years old, but you find little hope of success as life becomes extremely difficult and more dangerous. If you fight against the political system, you are a target and soon start to receive death threats.
Like so many who become desperate with few options, Angel decided to leave Venezuela and migrate to Colombia where he had a sister. But the lack of opportunities there brought him to the decision that his only choice was to migrate to the United States and seek asylum.
And so began Angel’s desperate trek, a grueling journey which took him six months from Venezuela through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico eventually bringing him to the U.S./Mexico border.
With no money to speak of to arrange transportation, his only option was to walk. That meant he had to cross the Darien Gap, a dense 60-mile section of rainforest spanning Panama and Colombia. Part of the Pan-American highway stretching from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile, it is the only gap and described as one of the most dangerous treks in the world. The Darien Gap is famous for one thing: things that will kill you.
It took Angel three days to cover the 60-mile Gap while traversing the mountainous jungle, a swamp infested with deadly creatures, armed guerrillas, drug traffickers and hostile indigenous tribes.
The rest of his journey was filled with tales of kidnapping, terrible treatment, rivers that had to be crossed, and corrupt countries where he had to pay bribes in order to keep going. Combined with endless walking, the climbing of mountains, hitchhiking when he could and a dangerous trip atop La Bestia (a network of Mexico freight trains upon which it is estimated 400,000-500,000 migrants ride each year to get to the U.S. border). At a shelter in Mexico, he was able to pass a credible fear interview and was fortunate to get the help of a lawyer who felt he had a reasonable case to seek political asylum in the U.S.
Today Angel is living in Green Valley with a Samaritan. He volunteers at the local food bank and other nonprofits. Hopeful for a better future, while he awaits his asylum hearing, he finds time to play the guitar and continues to smile.
People often ask us Samaritans why refugees and asylum seekers keep coming when he journey is so dangerous and life-threatening. Angel’s story is just one of thousands of tales that can be told. With the growth in the number of international migrants on the rise (now at 281 million people living outside their country of origin) they will keep coming.
Why? You ask. Because they are desperate. That’s why.
- Gail
Monsoons Bring Beauty and Danger - August 9, 2021
Stunning orange poppies, some rare wildlife, glorious green everywhere after the summer monsoon came to the Sonoran Desert — that’s what Samaritans report following each Search drive these days. But this beauty comes with a price: dirt roads obliterated in some sections, Black Widow spiders beneath boxes protecting our water jugs, dead tree limbs suddenly falling, even rattlesnakes.
The Sonoran Desert has no end of dangers for migrants, and now — ironically — the monsoon’s increased vegetation hides the paths and trails from weary migrants, footstep after footstep.
- Judith
The Sonoran Desert has no end of dangers for migrants, and now — ironically — the monsoon’s increased vegetation hides the paths and trails from weary migrants, footstep after footstep.
- Judith
Two Unhappy Endings - July 26, 2021
We heard juxtaposed stories of two migrant interactions with very different endings. An experienced husband and wife Search team, who had taken time off, went out on their first Search in a year. They met a young Mexican man north of the border on a paved road (286). He was cold and wet, had no backpack and no food. He had some muddy water in a black jug. His feet were in bad shape, blistered and swollen. Border Patrol agents arrived shortly and were kind to Orlando, crying in his desperation.
A contrasting story came from a recent public television segment with a well known local journalist. She was in a Border Patrol helicopter locating a Honduran man who had called for help on WhatsApp. They found him and we could see him too. They did not land due to low fuel but sent the GPS coordinates to agents who drove to him. By the time they found him, the man had died. Two stories, two unhappy endings with one much worse than the other.
- Laurie
A contrasting story came from a recent public television segment with a well known local journalist. She was in a Border Patrol helicopter locating a Honduran man who had called for help on WhatsApp. They found him and we could see him too. They did not land due to low fuel but sent the GPS coordinates to agents who drove to him. By the time they found him, the man had died. Two stories, two unhappy endings with one much worse than the other.
- Laurie
It's On Our Shoulders - July 12, 2021
We were reminded that though immigration news doesn't always make it to the front page, those working on the border see the numbers daily. At the Comedor in Nogales, Sonora, they are feeding 300-600 people daily, so many that they sometimes run short of food. All the shelters there are full. Casa Alitas in Tucson is receiving daily at least a hundred asylum seekers as they prepare to travel to their sponsors and await their hearings. Any welcome, hospitality and care for these hundreds of folks falls largely to the humanitarian groups on both sides of the border.
- Sandra
- Sandra
It Takes a Village - June 15, 2021
The African proverb, “It Takes a Village,” is often quoted to mean that “an entire community of people must interact with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.”And so it is with Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans in their border work for asylum seekers.
When it comes to boots-on-the-ground activities like providing food, water, clothing, medical assistance and shelter, that is when the village really comes to life.
“What can we do to help?” volunteers ask. “What do you need?” The answers are specific and varied. “We need flip-flops.” Most immigrants have walked hundreds of miles and their feet are blistered. They cannot fit their bandaged feet back into their shoes.
We need water. We never have enough water. We need blankets, coloring books for kids, medical supplies. We need taxi or bus fare to get folks safely from the port of entry drop-offs to Kino Border Initiative where they can be fed, hydrated, shower and make arrangements for transport to Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson from which they will go to their sponsors.
Yes, the government is doing what it can, but the wheels of justice and change grind slowly. Lawmakers are working on policy, looking at root causes. But it is the village that is doing the work in the meantime. It is the humanitarian groups like No More Deaths, The Florence Project, Justice for Our Neighbors, Humane Borders, the Tucson and Green Valley Samaritans, the Red Cross, the shelter systems in Arizona, Texas and Mexico that are doing the village work. They are bandaging feet, providing food and water, a safe haven to rest, coloring books and crayons for children and transportation to shelters and family. The most important gift the village provides is respect, acceptance, the offering of dignity by a welcoming smile and listening ear.
Like most efforts of networking, for the village to work, it takes good relationships. Greg Mortenson, inspired by impoverished mountain villagers in Pakistan, wrote a book in 1993 entitled “Three Cups of Tea.” His premise was that before you try to rectify any situation, before you jump in with your directives and solutions, you first sit down and share a cup of tea. Then the work begins.
Indeed it does take a village. Whether it’s flip flops, taxi fare, a pot of beans and rice or a simple welcoming smile, we, the village, come to the fray and offer what we can. “They” are not coming to save us. “We” are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the village.
- Gail
When it comes to boots-on-the-ground activities like providing food, water, clothing, medical assistance and shelter, that is when the village really comes to life.
“What can we do to help?” volunteers ask. “What do you need?” The answers are specific and varied. “We need flip-flops.” Most immigrants have walked hundreds of miles and their feet are blistered. They cannot fit their bandaged feet back into their shoes.
We need water. We never have enough water. We need blankets, coloring books for kids, medical supplies. We need taxi or bus fare to get folks safely from the port of entry drop-offs to Kino Border Initiative where they can be fed, hydrated, shower and make arrangements for transport to Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson from which they will go to their sponsors.
Yes, the government is doing what it can, but the wheels of justice and change grind slowly. Lawmakers are working on policy, looking at root causes. But it is the village that is doing the work in the meantime. It is the humanitarian groups like No More Deaths, The Florence Project, Justice for Our Neighbors, Humane Borders, the Tucson and Green Valley Samaritans, the Red Cross, the shelter systems in Arizona, Texas and Mexico that are doing the village work. They are bandaging feet, providing food and water, a safe haven to rest, coloring books and crayons for children and transportation to shelters and family. The most important gift the village provides is respect, acceptance, the offering of dignity by a welcoming smile and listening ear.
Like most efforts of networking, for the village to work, it takes good relationships. Greg Mortenson, inspired by impoverished mountain villagers in Pakistan, wrote a book in 1993 entitled “Three Cups of Tea.” His premise was that before you try to rectify any situation, before you jump in with your directives and solutions, you first sit down and share a cup of tea. Then the work begins.
Indeed it does take a village. Whether it’s flip flops, taxi fare, a pot of beans and rice or a simple welcoming smile, we, the village, come to the fray and offer what we can. “They” are not coming to save us. “We” are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the village.
- Gail
Bigger Scope, Same Mission - May 31, 2021
I was particularly taken today with the realization of how much wider the range of our activities is today than when Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans began 16 years ago. It's not just searches and water drops, but monitoring the activities of the court, assisting at shelters in Nogales, serving those who have been expelled back to Mexico, and in Tucson, where others are preparing for the next step of going across the country to sponsors to await their asylum court date. Yet our mission holds true: To save lives and relieve suffering in the Arizona Borderlands. It's the challenge of finding appropriate ways of putting a human face on the issues of immigration.
Today we heard about a conversation with a Border Patrol agent who thanked us for putting water out, saying we were saving lives and that it's the driest he's ever seen in 15 years. Those out on searches have been having more encounters with migrants than we have for several years, both those wanting to be found by Border Patrol and those who've made it across the border and still hope to make it somewhere in the country where they have family or the possibility of work.
- Sandra
Today we heard about a conversation with a Border Patrol agent who thanked us for putting water out, saying we were saving lives and that it's the driest he's ever seen in 15 years. Those out on searches have been having more encounters with migrants than we have for several years, both those wanting to be found by Border Patrol and those who've made it across the border and still hope to make it somewhere in the country where they have family or the possibility of work.
- Sandra
Two Vignettes Laced with Joy - May 17, 2021
Tricia, a Samaritan volunteer from Montana, told of spending a few days with the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Douglas/Agua Prieta. They rose before 2 am each morning, crossed the border and served breakfast to 50 to 70 newly deported migrants before the sun rose. Dropped off in the dark, they found warm coffee, warm food and warm smiles and welcome.
Rita, a volunteer doing transportation for asylum seekers traveling to their sponsors, told of taking folks to the Tucson International Airport. She has built relationships to where she and her colleagues get passes so they can accompany their families clear to the departure gates. She said the children were so excited at the prospect of flying in an airplane that they could not possibly sit still.
- Laurie
Rita, a volunteer doing transportation for asylum seekers traveling to their sponsors, told of taking folks to the Tucson International Airport. She has built relationships to where she and her colleagues get passes so they can accompany their families clear to the departure gates. She said the children were so excited at the prospect of flying in an airplane that they could not possibly sit still.
- Laurie
Some Things Never Change - May 3, 2021
Cartels follow the money and thus the desperate people heading north to find safety and a decent future. As the divided U.S. government wrestles with how to write a decent immigration policy, migrant numbers increase—drawing the cartels to border cities such as Nogales, Sonora. There, cartel scouts accost the weary migrants walking from the DeConcini port to the Mariposa port—where El Comedor waits with food and understanding. Some things never change.
- Judith
- Judith
A Better Purpose for All that Gold? - April 19, 2021
I watched this morning at the Sam’s meeting as Laurie reported on her Search along with Jennifer. They followed the border wall construction road east from Sasabe some 18 miles, about half-way to Nogales. They drove until they were pretty sure the end was in sight. After turning around, a Border Patrol agent directed them north to a connector road that would eventually go back to Tres Bellotas Road and Arivaca. The border wall road runs along the 30-foot bollard fence put in place by Southwest Valley Constructors and other contractors who value money over environment and ethics. They saw many washes filled in with dirt and sand. The road got progressively steeper, both up and down. In fact, Jennifer was behind Laurie in the Zoom frame doing vertical pantomimes with her hands. There was one rocky mountain where the contractors clearly gave up and went around. However, they still gashed and bulldozed up as far as they could.
I took to Google Earth to see if I could find the spots that Jennifer said were the steepest she had ever been up even in 4WD. As you zoom in, a wide straight gash cuts across the desert on what looks to be just over the Mexican side of the line (have we taken a few more meters?). Soon after what I thought must be the 45-50 degree hill the gash stops and several hills, gullies and arroyos start that were spared the dynamite that blasted other pristine and certain sacred areas. This year has been a particularly dangerous one in the desert for those fleeing horrific conditions in their own countries. Are we driving them further into the wilderness with this fence? Are we compounding despair? Are we encouraging evil? And all that gold. What could we do with all that gold?
- Katrina
I took to Google Earth to see if I could find the spots that Jennifer said were the steepest she had ever been up even in 4WD. As you zoom in, a wide straight gash cuts across the desert on what looks to be just over the Mexican side of the line (have we taken a few more meters?). Soon after what I thought must be the 45-50 degree hill the gash stops and several hills, gullies and arroyos start that were spared the dynamite that blasted other pristine and certain sacred areas. This year has been a particularly dangerous one in the desert for those fleeing horrific conditions in their own countries. Are we driving them further into the wilderness with this fence? Are we compounding despair? Are we encouraging evil? And all that gold. What could we do with all that gold?
- Katrina
Justice for All - April 5, 2021
Prominent leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” King supported the practice of resisting laws that were unjust.
With all the talk these days about “rights” and “freedoms,” it is prudent for Samaritans and all humanitarian folks to ask the question, “What is ‘justice for all’?
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that every person has the right to counsel. This means that a defendant in all criminal prosecutions has a constitutional right to be represented by an attorney during trial. So if you are accused of shoplifting at Walmart, you are entitled to counsel. But if you are undocumented and have lived and worked in Pima County for decades and are stopped for a broken taillight, you are not guaranteed the right to counsel in immigration court proceedings.
This is why Tucson attorney Margo Cowan is circulating the “Justice for All” petition to ask for community support for a 2022 ballot initiative that gives Pima County residents facing detention or deportation access to a public defender. The initiative would extend the right to a public defender to all immigration cases in Pima County. Last year almost 24,000 cases were processed through Tucson Immigration Court, of which 98% of those had no lawyer to represent them.
The petition requires 58,000 valid Pima County resident signatures. If you are interested in supporting this initiative, you can help by getting petitions circulated and signed. For more information or if you want to give financial support to the campaign, go to https://www.pimacountyjusticeforall.org. Checks may also be written and mailed to Pima County Justice for All, PO Box 40956, Tucson, AZ 85717. A petition signing drive will be held in Green Valley, May 23, 2021 from 10-2 at Continental Plaza.
“No one should have to go to court alone,” says Cowan. Let us walk the talk of Martin Luther King Jr. and not forget; “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- Gail
With all the talk these days about “rights” and “freedoms,” it is prudent for Samaritans and all humanitarian folks to ask the question, “What is ‘justice for all’?
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that every person has the right to counsel. This means that a defendant in all criminal prosecutions has a constitutional right to be represented by an attorney during trial. So if you are accused of shoplifting at Walmart, you are entitled to counsel. But if you are undocumented and have lived and worked in Pima County for decades and are stopped for a broken taillight, you are not guaranteed the right to counsel in immigration court proceedings.
This is why Tucson attorney Margo Cowan is circulating the “Justice for All” petition to ask for community support for a 2022 ballot initiative that gives Pima County residents facing detention or deportation access to a public defender. The initiative would extend the right to a public defender to all immigration cases in Pima County. Last year almost 24,000 cases were processed through Tucson Immigration Court, of which 98% of those had no lawyer to represent them.
The petition requires 58,000 valid Pima County resident signatures. If you are interested in supporting this initiative, you can help by getting petitions circulated and signed. For more information or if you want to give financial support to the campaign, go to https://www.pimacountyjusticeforall.org. Checks may also be written and mailed to Pima County Justice for All, PO Box 40956, Tucson, AZ 85717. A petition signing drive will be held in Green Valley, May 23, 2021 from 10-2 at Continental Plaza.
“No one should have to go to court alone,” says Cowan. Let us walk the talk of Martin Luther King Jr. and not forget; “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- Gail
Keep an Eye on our Tucson Sector - March 22, 2021
Reports from everyone at today's Zoom meeting--those who do searches, water drops, shelters in Nogales, Casa Alitas and The Inn shelters in Tucson, Ajo Samaritans--all confirm that crossing activity is increasing in the Tucson Sector (262 miles of border).
Some are those seeking asylum, who have been or are now finally being processed, but are then left stranded in Yuma, Sasabe, or Nogales. They need transportation to Tucson where humanitarian groups are providing food, shelter and assistance in making arrangements to travel to their destinations across the country. Others are finding ways to cross elsewhere, in desperation after waiting many long months in Mexico to even make their credible fear claims. Others are continuing to come from Central America, expecting a more hospitable welcome but are being turned back because the system is overloaded.
The meeting ended with a reminder that while many of the current problems are the result of Trump administration policies (and we must counter the intense political spin we are seeing), we must keep up pressure on the Biden administration and continue to work for congressional action to resolve the issues.
- Sandra
Some are those seeking asylum, who have been or are now finally being processed, but are then left stranded in Yuma, Sasabe, or Nogales. They need transportation to Tucson where humanitarian groups are providing food, shelter and assistance in making arrangements to travel to their destinations across the country. Others are finding ways to cross elsewhere, in desperation after waiting many long months in Mexico to even make their credible fear claims. Others are continuing to come from Central America, expecting a more hospitable welcome but are being turned back because the system is overloaded.
The meeting ended with a reminder that while many of the current problems are the result of Trump administration policies (and we must counter the intense political spin we are seeing), we must keep up pressure on the Biden administration and continue to work for congressional action to resolve the issues.
- Sandra
Help is on the Way for MPP Folks - February 22, 2021
At the Samaritan meeting this morning we thought of the 25,000 people who have been stranded along the U.S./Mexico border—sometimes up to 2 years—waiting in the cruelly named Migrant Protection Program or MPP. The Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans along with hundreds of other humanitarian organizations and churches along the border are gearing up to help these folks and many more who will come.
- Katrina
- Katrina
Justice for All Campaign - February 22, 2021
Justice for All is a citizen’s initiative that will be put on the ballot in 2022. It aims to provide legal counsel for migrants in immigration courts out of the County Public Defender’s Office. Attorney Margo Cowan is leading the drive to get the required 90,000 signatures. At this time, the right to legal representation is only guaranteed for those in criminal court. People in civil court (i.e. immigration) must fend for themselves.
The Good Shepherd UCC will be holding another Petition Signing Event on March 13th from 9 am to 1 pm. You must be a Pima County resident to sign. If you signed last year's petition, you will need to sign this new one. If you have already signed this year's, you can pick up signs and/or a petition to recruit others. T-shirts, bags and masks are for sale.
Donations toward the campaign's expenses are most welcome at www.pimacountyjusticeforall.org. Or arrange to have Margo speak to your church or club to inform others of the importance of this campaign.
- Katrina
The Good Shepherd UCC will be holding another Petition Signing Event on March 13th from 9 am to 1 pm. You must be a Pima County resident to sign. If you signed last year's petition, you will need to sign this new one. If you have already signed this year's, you can pick up signs and/or a petition to recruit others. T-shirts, bags and masks are for sale.
Donations toward the campaign's expenses are most welcome at www.pimacountyjusticeforall.org. Or arrange to have Margo speak to your church or club to inform others of the importance of this campaign.
- Katrina
A Jacket Left Behind - February 8, 2021
Yes, there is a new administration in Washington DC, with promise for immigration law reform at last. Numbers of asylum seekers increase even now, renewing challenges to humanitarian aid groups like the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans.
But, echoes of migrant struggles remain in our desert, such as a jacket caught on the wall’s barbed wire where a traveler had slipped out after miraculously crossing over, heading north to the future.
- Judith
But, echoes of migrant struggles remain in our desert, such as a jacket caught on the wall’s barbed wire where a traveler had slipped out after miraculously crossing over, heading north to the future.
- Judith
Where Has Some of the Water Gone? - January 25, 2021
It was striking to receive the report from those who regularly take water out. They are able to make a judgment as to whether there had been legitimate use of the water, or that the jugs had been damaged by animals, or that there was intentional vandalism. The gallon jugs are left in plastic crates or wooden crates with secured lids. We saw pictures of wooden crates that looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer to them. Sometimes they appear to have been stolen. There is no easy way to address the vandalism or why they might have been stolen.
- Sandra
- Sandra
Two Take Aways from Our Meeting - January 11, 2021
Strategies for Changing Hearts and Minds
As we were finishing our regular business this morning, we took a few minutes to talk about the desecration of our Capitol last Wednesday. How could we talk to those who believe the lies proliferated over the past five plus years? Some of these folks are our own family and friends. Past activism and years of of driving the back roads of Pima and Santa Cruz Counties AZ with numerous encounters with Border Patrol and local militia has given some insight into strategies for changing hearts and minds.
This Land is Your Land
Randy referenced a rarely sung verse of Woody Guthrie’s song, "This Land is Your Land."
It goes...
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing'.
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
We were discussing the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans’ primary purpose of helping to prevent the deaths of migrants/refugees/asylum seekers who have been funneled to the wilder and more remote stretches of the Arizona-Mexico border. While we search the back roads in marked vehicles, we see a lot that US Citizens passing through on the Interstate won’t ever see—but they should. We are seeing more and more roads bulldozed through our beautiful desert and riparian areas to ‘catch’ people fleeing poverty and oppression. We find more locked gates preventing access to public spaces and, of course, we see the ‘progress’ of more 30 foot bollard fence adorned with razor wire.
We need more people to be witnesses, to be watchers.
- Katrina
As we were finishing our regular business this morning, we took a few minutes to talk about the desecration of our Capitol last Wednesday. How could we talk to those who believe the lies proliferated over the past five plus years? Some of these folks are our own family and friends. Past activism and years of of driving the back roads of Pima and Santa Cruz Counties AZ with numerous encounters with Border Patrol and local militia has given some insight into strategies for changing hearts and minds.
- Keep things low key. Use a soft voice.
- Use ‘I messages’ rather than accusations.
- Repeat back to the speaker what she has said to show you are listening.
- Check for the exit when entering possibly threatening situations.
- BUT, channel Laurie Jurs and don’t be afraid to engage.
This Land is Your Land
Randy referenced a rarely sung verse of Woody Guthrie’s song, "This Land is Your Land."
It goes...
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing'.
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
We were discussing the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans’ primary purpose of helping to prevent the deaths of migrants/refugees/asylum seekers who have been funneled to the wilder and more remote stretches of the Arizona-Mexico border. While we search the back roads in marked vehicles, we see a lot that US Citizens passing through on the Interstate won’t ever see—but they should. We are seeing more and more roads bulldozed through our beautiful desert and riparian areas to ‘catch’ people fleeing poverty and oppression. We find more locked gates preventing access to public spaces and, of course, we see the ‘progress’ of more 30 foot bollard fence adorned with razor wire.
We need more people to be witnesses, to be watchers.
- Katrina
A Tribute to Peg Bowden - December 28, 2020
At the last Samaritan meeting of the year, on the last Monday of 2020, a year none of us can forget, in addition to our usual moment of silence for migrants, we take another moment of silence to remember our fellow Samaritan, Peg Bowden who died this week a few days after Christmas.
It seems the best and the brightest leave us too soon. And though our Samaritan mission is to “save lives and relieve suffering in the Arizona Borderlands,” we were helpless to save one of our own, dear Peg.
As I often do, I turn to the words of poet Mary Oliver for comfort:
An excerpt from
When Death Comes
Mary Oliver
....I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility.
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth...
* * * *
There’s an old African proverb that says, “When a person dies, a library is lost.”
We Samaritans are mourning the loss of that library of Peg, her wisdom and compassion. We are mourning the loss of our friend who was so many things—a great musician, writer, artist, activist and advocate for our migrant brothers and sisters. We celebrate her life, one she lived with exuberance and passion. I think Peg would agree with Mary Oliver’s closing lines of her poem:
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and
real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this
world.
Adios amiga, Hasta que nos volvamos a encontrar.
- Gail
It seems the best and the brightest leave us too soon. And though our Samaritan mission is to “save lives and relieve suffering in the Arizona Borderlands,” we were helpless to save one of our own, dear Peg.
As I often do, I turn to the words of poet Mary Oliver for comfort:
An excerpt from
When Death Comes
Mary Oliver
....I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility.
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth...
* * * *
There’s an old African proverb that says, “When a person dies, a library is lost.”
We Samaritans are mourning the loss of that library of Peg, her wisdom and compassion. We are mourning the loss of our friend who was so many things—a great musician, writer, artist, activist and advocate for our migrant brothers and sisters. We celebrate her life, one she lived with exuberance and passion. I think Peg would agree with Mary Oliver’s closing lines of her poem:
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and
real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this
world.
Adios amiga, Hasta que nos volvamos a encontrar.
- Gail
Doubles Again...Samaritan Ambassadors and Grim News - December 14, 2020
Samaritan Ambassadors
Mile after mile, week after week, year after year, some Samaritans rise early and drive into the desert on Search, the prime mission of their humanitarian aid. Their identified cars carry water, food, clothing and first aid kits for migrants they encounter. They are also ambassadors. On any Search, they might talk to sympathetic or angry Border Patrol agents or ranchers; last week drivers gladly shared Samaritan protocols with an unnerved Forest Service employee who had just met her first migrant needing help.
- Judith
Grim News
It was grim news to hear this morning. New Trump administration regulations and procedures will take effect January 11. They will change the categories of legitimate fear claims. For example, the majority of those seeking to receive a hearing will be immediately turned away and even those in the country at present awaiting a hearing will be diverted to new asylum courts where Trump appointed judges will reject their claims based on the new regulations.
- Sandra
Mile after mile, week after week, year after year, some Samaritans rise early and drive into the desert on Search, the prime mission of their humanitarian aid. Their identified cars carry water, food, clothing and first aid kits for migrants they encounter. They are also ambassadors. On any Search, they might talk to sympathetic or angry Border Patrol agents or ranchers; last week drivers gladly shared Samaritan protocols with an unnerved Forest Service employee who had just met her first migrant needing help.
- Judith
Grim News
It was grim news to hear this morning. New Trump administration regulations and procedures will take effect January 11. They will change the categories of legitimate fear claims. For example, the majority of those seeking to receive a hearing will be immediately turned away and even those in the country at present awaiting a hearing will be diverted to new asylum courts where Trump appointed judges will reject their claims based on the new regulations.
- Sandra
Double Nuggets...South Koreans and a Horseshoe - November 16, 2020
South Koreans
We receive frequent inquiries from international journalists. Recently Pastor Randy Mayer took a reporter from the Korean Broadcasting System, which is public television in South Korea, to Nogales, Arizona to experience our border world. They visited the Wall. They visited with the Korean shop owners on Morley Avenue. They witnessed the apprehension of a border crosser in broad daylight in the shopping district. We are glad to have international interest in documenting our border situation.
A Horseshoe
One of our members on Search found a backpack with a horseshoe in it. [See the photo here.] May that person have all the Good Luck in the world.
- Laurie
We receive frequent inquiries from international journalists. Recently Pastor Randy Mayer took a reporter from the Korean Broadcasting System, which is public television in South Korea, to Nogales, Arizona to experience our border world. They visited the Wall. They visited with the Korean shop owners on Morley Avenue. They witnessed the apprehension of a border crosser in broad daylight in the shopping district. We are glad to have international interest in documenting our border situation.
A Horseshoe
One of our members on Search found a backpack with a horseshoe in it. [See the photo here.] May that person have all the Good Luck in the world.
- Laurie
Make Good Trouble - November 2, 2020
At the Samaritan meeting of November 2, one day before what some call the most important election of our lifetime, Pastor Randy Mayer ended the meeting with the words made famous by divil rights leader John Robert Lewis, “Go out and make good trouble.”
At the meeting, we Samaritans had already heard the Search and Water Drop reports, the news on shelters or lack of; the need for blankets and coats for deported migrants dropped off at Sasabe, Sonora in below freezing temperatures. We’d already heard about the Samaritan donation of $3,000 to buy heater units for shelters in Mexico. We’d heard that the Red Cross demobilized their group with border colleagues because wildfires and floods are taking priority. We’d heard about the unending destruction of the desert due to the building of the border wall and the suffering of asylum seekers fleeing violence and poverty only to be turned back at the US border.
John Robert Lewis was the son of a sharecropper growing up in rural Alabama. He said as a little boy he was in constant fear because of signs that said “no colored boys, no colored girls.” His parents and grandparents used to tell him “don’t get in trouble.” Nevertheless, as a young man he was inspired to activism by the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
The Library of Congress opened an extensive exhibition, “Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words,” where the Congressman Lewis spoke. “Rosa Parks inspired us to get in trouble. And I’ve been getting in trouble ever since,” he said. “She inspired us to find a way, to get in the way, to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.” He was able to meet and work with Rosa Parks who taught him about the philosophy and discipline of non-violence. “She kept on saying to each one of us, you too can do something.” “And for people if you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, do something. We cannot afford to be quiet.”
Good trouble makers—that’s what Samaritans are. As we mark time in this moment of unknowing, waiting to exhale, we know that whatever the results of the election, we go on, caring for the marginalized, offering humanitarian aid, doing what we can to make good trouble.
-Gail
At the meeting, we Samaritans had already heard the Search and Water Drop reports, the news on shelters or lack of; the need for blankets and coats for deported migrants dropped off at Sasabe, Sonora in below freezing temperatures. We’d already heard about the Samaritan donation of $3,000 to buy heater units for shelters in Mexico. We’d heard that the Red Cross demobilized their group with border colleagues because wildfires and floods are taking priority. We’d heard about the unending destruction of the desert due to the building of the border wall and the suffering of asylum seekers fleeing violence and poverty only to be turned back at the US border.
John Robert Lewis was the son of a sharecropper growing up in rural Alabama. He said as a little boy he was in constant fear because of signs that said “no colored boys, no colored girls.” His parents and grandparents used to tell him “don’t get in trouble.” Nevertheless, as a young man he was inspired to activism by the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
The Library of Congress opened an extensive exhibition, “Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words,” where the Congressman Lewis spoke. “Rosa Parks inspired us to get in trouble. And I’ve been getting in trouble ever since,” he said. “She inspired us to find a way, to get in the way, to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.” He was able to meet and work with Rosa Parks who taught him about the philosophy and discipline of non-violence. “She kept on saying to each one of us, you too can do something.” “And for people if you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, do something. We cannot afford to be quiet.”
Good trouble makers—that’s what Samaritans are. As we mark time in this moment of unknowing, waiting to exhale, we know that whatever the results of the election, we go on, caring for the marginalized, offering humanitarian aid, doing what we can to make good trouble.
-Gail
Uncertainty and Change in Our Work - October 19, 2020
In a two week period, our group usually conducts eight Searches and two Water Drops. The latter work yields tangible information such as number of water gallon jugs replaced. The last report included one trip that replaced 19 jugs compared to the other that left 66. The whys and wherefores are neither clear nor certain. The former work, the Searches, can yield less tangible information. For example, one team spoke with a Border Patrol agent who said that the migrants do not walk on trails anymore due to the ground sensors and surveillance technology. The guides scout ahead and direct the groups from landmark to landmark. Adaptability and change are the name of the game.
-Laurie
-Laurie
Inspiration from Afar - October 5, 2021
What a welcome gift to receive inspiration from afar! Groups are coming together post haste to meet the sudden and enormous needs of migrants being deported to Sasabe, Sonora. Over 100 migrants are being dropped off daily to a town with no food, shelter, or hope for basic needs being met. Nor is there public transportation to the south should people choose to go back. Humanitarians and Samaritans from Douglas, Ajo, Arivaca, Tucson, Green Valley and Sahuarita have jumped into action. Immediate needs are water and food to be delivered weekly on a coordinated schedule. What is happening is awful, yet the response is inspiring.
-Tricia Decker in Montana
-Tricia Decker in Montana
Capricious and Inhumane Policies - September 21, 2020
Being a person who wants life to be fair and orderly (unrealistic as that is), my mind reeled with questions after Peter Hirschman, an asylum expert, spoke to us. I am upset with the administration’s capricious and inhumane policy changes.
-Susie
- How can our United States ignore international law and shut the door on asylum seekers?
- What is humane about expelling unaccompanied youth and asylum seekers to dangerous Mexico or to the unsafe home countries they fled?
- Why would detainees be transferred from Florence, AZ detention facility (35% full) to Farmville, VA (57% full), causing a huge COVID-19 outbreak in the Virginia facility?
-Susie
Samaritans Are Prepared - September 7, 2020
We heard of two community sightings of migrants in Green Valley. Humanitarian assistance, per the International Red Cross’ Code of Conduct for Disaster Relief, was rendered. The three young men from Chiapas, Mexico, had not eaten for three days. Yet when they got food and water, they asked the Samaritans if it would be all right if they started to eat.
People spending the summer here were reminded to carry phone numbers of Spanish speakers with them if needed. Additionally, all of us should carry extra water and non-perishable snacks in our vehicles routinely. Samaritans are prepared!
- Laurie
People spending the summer here were reminded to carry phone numbers of Spanish speakers with them if needed. Additionally, all of us should carry extra water and non-perishable snacks in our vehicles routinely. Samaritans are prepared!
- Laurie
The Cavalry Is Not Coming - August 24, 2020
If you attend one of our Samaritan meetings, now held via Zoom, you’ll learn a lot about what Samaritans do. You’ll learn about searches, water drops and protests. About shelters, letter writing campaigns and fellow humanitarian groups.
Despite those worthy actions, our immigration attorney, Tucson’s Margo Cowan, reminds us that now is the time to focus on one thing: getting out the vote. Though there are many ways to do that, time is getting short, with less than 70 days until the November 3 election.
So if we want to see massive immigration reform, we need to vote for an administration that will address that. If we want to end the suffering in our borderlands, and see progressive immigration policy, we need to vote.
Cowan suggests that we need to encourage everyone we meet on a daily basis to do the same. Try engaging five people a day, she says. If we’re uncomfortable with that, she suggests questions. Here are a few to start a conversation:
What do you think about offering humanitarian aid to people without conditions?
What kind of things might make you think about moving your family or sending your children away from home?
What kind of trouble or violence do you think should qualify a person for asylum in our country?
What do you think about the undocumented young adults that were brought over by their parents when they were children?
If we believe in a democracy, a government by the people and that people should be treated equally through a system of representation, we need to vote. If we believe in free elections, then we need to use the greatest tool we have to preserve that democracy. We need to vote.
The cavalry is not coming to save us. We are the cavalry. The choices we make today will not only affect those who come after us, but emerge as the self-portrait of who we are as people of America.
- Gail
Despite those worthy actions, our immigration attorney, Tucson’s Margo Cowan, reminds us that now is the time to focus on one thing: getting out the vote. Though there are many ways to do that, time is getting short, with less than 70 days until the November 3 election.
So if we want to see massive immigration reform, we need to vote for an administration that will address that. If we want to end the suffering in our borderlands, and see progressive immigration policy, we need to vote.
Cowan suggests that we need to encourage everyone we meet on a daily basis to do the same. Try engaging five people a day, she says. If we’re uncomfortable with that, she suggests questions. Here are a few to start a conversation:
What do you think about offering humanitarian aid to people without conditions?
What kind of things might make you think about moving your family or sending your children away from home?
What kind of trouble or violence do you think should qualify a person for asylum in our country?
What do you think about the undocumented young adults that were brought over by their parents when they were children?
If we believe in a democracy, a government by the people and that people should be treated equally through a system of representation, we need to vote. If we believe in free elections, then we need to use the greatest tool we have to preserve that democracy. We need to vote.
The cavalry is not coming to save us. We are the cavalry. The choices we make today will not only affect those who come after us, but emerge as the self-portrait of who we are as people of America.
- Gail
Mules Bringing in Hard Drugs - August 10, 2020
At today's Samaritans meeting we learned that Florida Canyon Research station has had to close temporarily because of increased drug trafficking in the area. Because traffic through the ports of entry has been severely restricted, the drug cartels are back to using human carriers, known as "mules," (often migrants forced to pay their way) to bring in hard drugs. They alternately use routes on the east side of the Santa Rita mountains and Madera Canyon and Florida Canyon. With greater legal access to marijuana in the U.S., the smuggling of hard drugs has increased. The closing of the border actually boosts the cartel involvement.
- Sandra
- Sandra
Recent Changes in Nogales, Sonora - July 27, 2020
Alma Cota de Yanez, Director of FESAC (Border Community Alliance’s non-governmental partner organization in Sonora, Mexico) spoke about recent changes in Nogales, Sonora. She explained how many migrants seeking asylum, that did not have a number for their credible fear interview, left the area. Those that did stuck it out. More migrants are arriving from Cuba, and then securing employment in Nogales. Many migrants hope that if they get a job in Nogales they will be able to stay in Mexico. The opening of schools is uncertain at this time. Some migrants would like to enroll their children in school so they will be able to work. Some maquilas (border factories) are hiring as well as helping migrants.
Alex La Pierre, Program Director of Border Community Alliance (BCA), spoke about the needs of the Food Bank in Nogales. Donations can be made to BCA online or by check; you may designate FESAC either the Food Bank or Nursing Homes.
- Rita
Alex La Pierre, Program Director of Border Community Alliance (BCA), spoke about the needs of the Food Bank in Nogales. Donations can be made to BCA online or by check; you may designate FESAC either the Food Bank or Nursing Homes.
- Rita
More Wooden Water Boxes - July 13, 2020
Mark mentioned meeting Sister Judy in Douglas and crossing the border to Agua Prieta, Sonora. He picked up another 20 wooden boxes at the Migrant Carpentry Workshop. They take wood from used pallets and use it to make furniture for sale, while teaching skills and providing work for migrants. The newest addition to their line is a small folding Adirondack chair. The wood for our boxes comes from pieces that may not be suitable for making furniture.
These wooden boxes prevent animal damage to water bottles much better than the upturned plastic crates, and also prevent degradation from sunlight. Pictured are Victor and Armando of the Migrant Carpentry Workshop and Sr. Judy Bourg of School Sisters of Notre Dame. See some of their furniture in the Photo Gallery.
- Susie
These wooden boxes prevent animal damage to water bottles much better than the upturned plastic crates, and also prevent degradation from sunlight. Pictured are Victor and Armando of the Migrant Carpentry Workshop and Sr. Judy Bourg of School Sisters of Notre Dame. See some of their furniture in the Photo Gallery.
- Susie
Damila is Free! - July 13, 2020
“Damila is free!” This good news spread rapidly among immigrant rights community members. The 26-year-old Cuban had been incarcerated in Eloy for more than a year. She has chronic health issues and feared contracting COVID-19. Attorney Margo Cowan and her team represented her.
I met Damila and her family in a migrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico while they were waiting to legally apply for asylum in the United States. She was separated from her family at the border. Damila and I have been corresponding for months.
Her future is still uncertain, but now she will be released on bond and sent to Casa Alitas in Tucson, to be put in quarantine for two weeks before traveling to stay at her aunt’s house in Florida.
- Elisa
I met Damila and her family in a migrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico while they were waiting to legally apply for asylum in the United States. She was separated from her family at the border. Damila and I have been corresponding for months.
Her future is still uncertain, but now she will be released on bond and sent to Casa Alitas in Tucson, to be put in quarantine for two weeks before traveling to stay at her aunt’s house in Florida.
- Elisa
Only 20 Minutes a Day - July 13, 2020
Today's meeting highlighted the ways Samaritans continue actively supporting migrants. We mount three searches a week, for 6-7 hours each, covering a wide area. We replace water at numerous locations. Arrests are down, but continuing. People still seek to enter the U.S. in any way possible. Operation Streamline court hearings are on hold, meaning longer incarceration time for detainees. A few are being released from detention. Tucson shelters continue providing a place to rest, have a meal and receive assistance before heading to a relative somewhere across the country. It's difficult for shelters to find volunteers to drive folks to the bus station or airport, but protocols have been developed for social distancing.
Folks living elsewhere in the country reported on the importance of sharing up-to-date information about the border. Groups have few opportunities to hear the real story. One of the most disturbing reports we heard was from the La Palma detention facility in Eloy, where 192 people have the virus and are locked in their cells 23 hours a day, with only 20 minutes daily for either a shower, a phone call or to write a letter.
- Sandra
Folks living elsewhere in the country reported on the importance of sharing up-to-date information about the border. Groups have few opportunities to hear the real story. One of the most disturbing reports we heard was from the La Palma detention facility in Eloy, where 192 people have the virus and are locked in their cells 23 hours a day, with only 20 minutes daily for either a shower, a phone call or to write a letter.
- Sandra
Flood the Desert - June 27, 2020
Fourteen intrepid GVS Samaritans in 8 cars helped Flood the Desert on June 27, 2020 with our presence, with water and with kindness. This event takes place annually as summer temperatures soar. One Samaritan paid tribute at a painted cross marking the spot where an unidentified migrant paid the ultimate price in 2004.
Another pair met an anthropologist at the border wall west of Sasabe. He said construction was temporarily halted due to Tohono O’odham concerns regarding some caves among other issues. How we wish construction could be permanently stopped. See a photo of the construction under Events.
- Laurie
I'll Stand By You - June 15, 2020
We take so much for granted in this white privileged life of ours: food on the table, a safe home to abide in when asked to “stay at home,” stocked cupboards and freezers; air conditioning to cool us in desert heat; a soft place to fall at the end of the day; perhaps a pet to keep us company; money to pay our bills and buy groceries, hot running water to wash our hands a million times a day; toilets that flush; cars that take us where we want to go; healthy bodies that allow us to walk out the door to protest on corners or walk the desert to lift our spirits. Most of us know where our children are at night and if they are safe. Some times our biggest decision of the day is what to watch on Netflix.
As Samaritans, we know that not everyone has this luxury, especially those seeking safety at our borders. In fact, many, many of our brothers and sisters are suffering everyday, every minute for a lack of these things.
I’ve been taking my comfort lately from music, especially music sung by young sweet innocent children who give me hope. Kudos to their choir directors who have managed to instill in them passion, empathy and kindness which they embody through song.
Like Gregg Breinberg, chorus director of PS 22 who has his youthful children sing The Pretenders song, I’ll Stand By You.
Take a listen to the lyrics:
Oh, why you look so sad, the tears are in your eyes,
Come on and come to me now, and don’t be ashamed to cry,
Let me see you through, I’ve seen the dark side too,
When the night falls on you, you don’t know what to do,
Nothing you confess could make me love you less.
I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you..
When the humanitarian group, People Helping People in the small town of Arivaca, 11 miles north of the Mexico border needs help putting in their first bathroom in eight years so they and their guests can wash their hands, use a toilet and stay safe, we Samaritans offer them money to help build it and say, I’ll stand by you.
When the Unitarian Universalist church in Amado says they are putting in a washer and dryer for migrants to wash their clothes any time of the night or day, we Samaritans donate needed funds for the plumbing and say, I’ll stand by you.
I’ll stand by you.
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you.
- Gail
As Samaritans, we know that not everyone has this luxury, especially those seeking safety at our borders. In fact, many, many of our brothers and sisters are suffering everyday, every minute for a lack of these things.
I’ve been taking my comfort lately from music, especially music sung by young sweet innocent children who give me hope. Kudos to their choir directors who have managed to instill in them passion, empathy and kindness which they embody through song.
Like Gregg Breinberg, chorus director of PS 22 who has his youthful children sing The Pretenders song, I’ll Stand By You.
Take a listen to the lyrics:
Oh, why you look so sad, the tears are in your eyes,
Come on and come to me now, and don’t be ashamed to cry,
Let me see you through, I’ve seen the dark side too,
When the night falls on you, you don’t know what to do,
Nothing you confess could make me love you less.
I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you..
When the humanitarian group, People Helping People in the small town of Arivaca, 11 miles north of the Mexico border needs help putting in their first bathroom in eight years so they and their guests can wash their hands, use a toilet and stay safe, we Samaritans offer them money to help build it and say, I’ll stand by you.
When the Unitarian Universalist church in Amado says they are putting in a washer and dryer for migrants to wash their clothes any time of the night or day, we Samaritans donate needed funds for the plumbing and say, I’ll stand by you.
I’ll stand by you.
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you.
- Gail
Resistance Is Imperative! - June 1, 2020 |
This past week, during the pandemic, the yearly 75-mile Migrant Trail Walk was held virtually. It was a great success. Every day an email included a short opening video explaining the usual trek for that day, an informative podcast about the border from other sources, and then a late afternoon live Zoom presentation with important local leaders and Samaritans. Virtual walkers "zoomed" in from all over the US, Canada and Mexico. Links to all of those can be found on our GVS website under “Learn More on Immigration.” My hope is that this virtual walk can take place every year, alongside the walkers, for those of us who cannot do it in body. A migrant walk from a past year is shown at the left.
- Barb
I was so happy to be able to experience this 17-year tradition of the Migrant Trail Walk. It was a respectful and eye-opening experience. The reflections, informative podcasts and inspirational speakers calling for a stop to the needless deaths and suffering along the U.S.-Mexico border moved me. You can participate and make your own decisions after experiencing the 2020 Alternative Migrant Trail Walk here. I was led to one conclusion. Resistance is Imperative!
- Susie
- Susie
Bordados and Mantas - May 18, 2020
At our recent zoom meeting, a long-time member told of a project called Artisans Beyond Borders (https://artisansbeyondborders.org) in Nogales, Sonora. Women and girls are embroidering “mantas" (the word replacing “bordados”). The women are asylum seekers, stuck with no good options. Making mantas brings joy, helps pass the time and earns a bit of money. Laurie Jurs holds up the manta she won. The creator of this flowery manta is pictured on the Artisans Beyond Borders home page mentioned above.
"What comes to mind for me when I hold my new manta is the contrast with the ones we began finding in 2006. Twisted in the sand, crumpled in a backpack or hanging in a cholla, we imagined the stories behind them, who made them, who carried them. Now I know who lovingly embroidered this cloth. I know her name and some of her story. I wish a safe and blessed journey for Sandra A. with all my heart."
- Laurie
Appreciation - May 4, 2020
Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans maintain an active presence in the desert, albeit with fewer trips with fewer people, prioritizing personal safety. From the Santa Ritas to the Baboquivaris, along the edge of the Tohono O’Odham Nation, from the border north to Sahuarita, we continue to look for migrants in trouble, criss-crossing rough roads and walking old trails. Along the way, we talk with Border Patrol agents, some of whom express concern about the virus, some of whom suggest spots to leave water jugs. We talk with ranch hands and land owners, sharing current information. And last but not least, while gassing up recently in Green Valley, one of our teams got two hearty "Thank Yous" for our work.
- Laurie
- Laurie
Funding The Forgotten - April 20, 2020
Although some of our traditional activities, searches, water drops, and monitoring Operation Streamline, in particular, are limited, Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans, wherever they are, find ways to support immigrants. From Oregon to Virginia to New York, Samaritans work to relieve suffering in detention centers and with undocumented workers in their own communities.
Some of these immigrants are people providing important services for us all, harvesting crops, working in meat packing plants, and cleaning buildings. But these people will not be entitled to the government stimulus money without being registered with Social Security.
Funds are being set up locally to help provide for them. Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans has an Asylum Fund to assist asylum seekers. No More Deaths has a Bond Fund to help bond people out of detention in Arizona. Check here for local and national groups and organizations that are helping immigrants directly.
- Sandra
Some of these immigrants are people providing important services for us all, harvesting crops, working in meat packing plants, and cleaning buildings. But these people will not be entitled to the government stimulus money without being registered with Social Security.
Funds are being set up locally to help provide for them. Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans has an Asylum Fund to assist asylum seekers. No More Deaths has a Bond Fund to help bond people out of detention in Arizona. Check here for local and national groups and organizations that are helping immigrants directly.
- Sandra
Cool, Clear Water - April 6, 2020
Perhaps you remember the song, Cool Water, which was written by Bob Nolan in 1936 and first recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers in 1941. It is about the narrator and his mule, Dan, as they travel across a bleak desert in search of water but only find mirages.
The lyrics begin:
All day I’ve faced a barren waste
Without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool, clear water…
Water is vital for all known forms of life. Up to 60% of the human body is water.
This month, we learn of the passing of long time Samaritan Ed Lord, who found his best service to be Water Drops. Randy tells us the story of Ed driving the roughest roads trying to create angles for water drops like flying a tethered weather balloon to indicate caches. We hear the Water Drop statistics for the last five months: 4 routes; 33 caches; 104 gallons legitimately used; 32 vandalized; 290 gallons damaged by animals or decayed; 67 gallons missing, a total of about 473 gallons.
What is the use? You might say. Out of 473 gallons, only 104 gallons used?
That’s when we need to remember the parable of the Starfish Project whose mission is “Wear Hope, Give Hope.”
The parable tells the story of an old man walking along a beach covered with thousands of starfish that had washed ashore. The man came upon a young boy who was throwing the starfish back into the ocean. Puzzled, the man asked the boy what he was doing. The boy replied, “I’m saving these starfish, Sir.”
The old man said, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”
The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the sea and said to the man, “I made a difference to that one.”
And so we continue to drop water, to make a difference.
The song ends with…
Dan, can ya see the big, green tree?
Where the water’s runnin’ free
And it’s waitin’ there for you and me?
Water
Cool, clear water
Cool, clear water.
- Gail
The lyrics begin:
All day I’ve faced a barren waste
Without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool, clear water…
Water is vital for all known forms of life. Up to 60% of the human body is water.
This month, we learn of the passing of long time Samaritan Ed Lord, who found his best service to be Water Drops. Randy tells us the story of Ed driving the roughest roads trying to create angles for water drops like flying a tethered weather balloon to indicate caches. We hear the Water Drop statistics for the last five months: 4 routes; 33 caches; 104 gallons legitimately used; 32 vandalized; 290 gallons damaged by animals or decayed; 67 gallons missing, a total of about 473 gallons.
What is the use? You might say. Out of 473 gallons, only 104 gallons used?
That’s when we need to remember the parable of the Starfish Project whose mission is “Wear Hope, Give Hope.”
The parable tells the story of an old man walking along a beach covered with thousands of starfish that had washed ashore. The man came upon a young boy who was throwing the starfish back into the ocean. Puzzled, the man asked the boy what he was doing. The boy replied, “I’m saving these starfish, Sir.”
The old man said, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”
The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the sea and said to the man, “I made a difference to that one.”
And so we continue to drop water, to make a difference.
The song ends with…
Dan, can ya see the big, green tree?
Where the water’s runnin’ free
And it’s waitin’ there for you and me?
Water
Cool, clear water
Cool, clear water.
- Gail
The Children's Docket - March 23, 2020
Tucson Public Defender Margo Cowan joined the GVS Samaritan meeting 03/09/20. While explaining the important new Citizen's Initiative, "Pima County Justice for All," she told a story that shocked the meeting. She recently traveled to Los Angeles to represent a young practicing attorney, a Dreamer, whose deportation case has been re-opened. For reasons unknown, they were assigned to the Children's Docket, where they witnessed processing of unaccompanied, unrepresented, migrant children. As young as three to seven years old, their little legs dangled from the chairs. When asked "What's your name?" some answered, asking the judge what their name was in reply. How prevalent is this? Is it happening in Pima County? What will it take to stop it?
- Treasure
- Treasure
A Stranger At My Door - March 9, 2020
Like Peg Bowden, I experienced "A Stranger At My Door." Thankfully, I had read her book. In fact, it was laying by my door. It was about 9:30 last Saturday night and very dark. The door bell rang. I turned on the entrance light and opened the inside door. I saw a man with a backpack. When he saw me, he said "too much walking." He was clearly exhausted. I asked where he was going. He said Walmart. I said, I can't take you and he said, "I know." I asked if he wanted water. He shook his head and pointed to the puddles. Dumb me. I said "Are you hungry?" He said yes. I went to the fridge and took out a large apple, sliced it in half and grabbed two food bars. I unlocked the door. He was clearly happy about the apple. He started eating it and put the other half in his pocket. He said "Thank you" and I said "God Bless You" as he turned and disappeared into the dark.
I wondered how he picked my door. I said a prayer for his safety. He had a long walk and in the open.
- Treasure
I wondered how he picked my door. I said a prayer for his safety. He had a long walk and in the open.
- Treasure
A New Shelter in Town - February 10, 2020
Lest we forget........migrants all over the world are struggling to find a safe, supportive place to live. Nearby in Nogales, Sonora, 4,000 asylum seekers have been returned to Mexico to await their court dates in El Paso, TX or their first interview at the Port of Entry in Nogales, AZ. A new 600-bed shelter will be opening soon - Casa de Todas las Naciones (House of All Nations). What an appropriate name!
Support for this initiative is being provided by a collaboration of the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. These churches and the Samaritans will be providing financial and volunteer support to remodel the former school and staff this much needed shelter.
There is always more work to be done to ease the lives of others.
- Sue
Support for this initiative is being provided by a collaboration of the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. These churches and the Samaritans will be providing financial and volunteer support to remodel the former school and staff this much needed shelter.
There is always more work to be done to ease the lives of others.
- Sue
Don't Ask, Don't Tell - January 27, 2020
What do we adults do when we come in contact with children? We like to talk to them, engage them, find out their name and maybe even take their picture. That’s not the case at Tucson’s Casa Alitas shelter.
At our recent security training, we volunteers learned, because of safety concerns, to not take photographs of the residents or even of their art work if it contains their full name. And if we have questions, we are to keep them light. Asking shelter residents why they left their country is not our job. Speaking of their trauma puts them back in it. It’s not a place they want to go.
So we learn to keep it light, take no photographs, and be mindful that each and every one of the residents at the shelter have suffered trauma on their journeys. We offer support and comfort wherever we can. Sometimes that comfort is as simple as eye contact, a hand on their shoulder, a greeting in their language or exclaiming over amazing art work created by tiny little fingers.
- Gail
At our recent security training, we volunteers learned, because of safety concerns, to not take photographs of the residents or even of their art work if it contains their full name. And if we have questions, we are to keep them light. Asking shelter residents why they left their country is not our job. Speaking of their trauma puts them back in it. It’s not a place they want to go.
So we learn to keep it light, take no photographs, and be mindful that each and every one of the residents at the shelter have suffered trauma on their journeys. We offer support and comfort wherever we can. Sometimes that comfort is as simple as eye contact, a hand on their shoulder, a greeting in their language or exclaiming over amazing art work created by tiny little fingers.
- Gail
Drones Scouting South of the Border - January 13, 2020
Those on Samaritan desert searches take an opportunity to talk to Border Patrol agents whenever they can. We learned at this morning's meeting that the Border Patrol is using drones to track groups of people still in Mexico who may be intending to cross into the United States. They can then be ready to apprehend them as soon as they cross.
- Sandra
- Sandra
Migrants' Trek Through Mexico Is Bittersweet - December 30, 2019
Rev. Delle McCormick visited the meeting to tell of her journey to southern Mexico shelters to understand the complicated and often tragic dynamics faced by migrants as they come north. The surprising and hopeful news was how organized the Mexican shelters are in their assistance of asylum seekers. The work is mainly churches and volunteers, not the government. But migrants are allowed to apply for a one year status as a refugee in Mexico. And they are given a map of all the participating shelters! The sad development is that only about 5% will actually complete the journey to enter the U.S. to seek asylum.
- Barb
- Barb
Over 1200 Families Waiting in Nogales - December 16, 2019
At our Samaritans meeting on December 16, 2019, we were reminded again of the plight of asylum seekers in Nogales, Sonora. On a typical day, the Comedor is faced with feeding 200 or more people, 40% of whom may be children. There are estimates of 1200 or more families waiting in Nogales to make their credible fear claim to agents at the U.S. border. Only 15-20 families are allowed to present themselves daily and some have been waiting as long as four months.
- Sandra
- Sandra
Scott Warren's Landmark Case - December 2, 2019
As we celebrate the not-guilty verdict in Scott Warren's second trial on felony charges, we should also celebrate the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins to acquit Warren on charges of "abandonment of property" (leaving water jugs in the desert). The judge ruled that this act was an exercise of Warren's deeply held religious beliefs and therefore protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This decision is very important for two reasons: First, the judge invoked RFRA even though he did not invoke any particular religious belief system; second, this is believed to be the first use of RFRA which has been used to protect progressive religious activism, rather than refusal to hire or serve LGBTQ individuals or to provide reproductive health benefits to employees. In both respects this is a landmark case in the federal courts.
- David (fledgling snowbird from Michigan and first-time attendee at GV Samaritans meeting)
- David (fledgling snowbird from Michigan and first-time attendee at GV Samaritans meeting)
Compassion and Respect in the Desert - November 18, 2019
On a recent Sunday Samaritan Search, we came across several Border Patrol trucks alongside the road. We saw agents bringing a migrant group across the desert. Soon the migrants were sitting along the road. The handcuffs shackling them were being removed. We were allowed to hand out food and water.
A woman at the end of the line was crying and my partner said the woman was crying for her children. I sat next to her, putting my arms around her. She told me through her tears her three children lived with their grandparents back east. Though she never said the words, I knew her tears meant she knew she wasn’t going to see them. All I could tell her was, "Lo siento, I’m sorry.” Then I had to leave her. The agents were gathering the migrants’ information.
Throughout this encounter the agents treated the migrants with respect. My partner and I waited until all the migrants were in the trucks and on their way. I told the remaining agents I appreciated the courtesy I witnessed. We don’t always see eye to eye with Border Patrol, but that day I couldn’t have asked for better care for this group.
- Kathy
A woman at the end of the line was crying and my partner said the woman was crying for her children. I sat next to her, putting my arms around her. She told me through her tears her three children lived with their grandparents back east. Though she never said the words, I knew her tears meant she knew she wasn’t going to see them. All I could tell her was, "Lo siento, I’m sorry.” Then I had to leave her. The agents were gathering the migrants’ information.
Throughout this encounter the agents treated the migrants with respect. My partner and I waited until all the migrants were in the trucks and on their way. I told the remaining agents I appreciated the courtesy I witnessed. We don’t always see eye to eye with Border Patrol, but that day I couldn’t have asked for better care for this group.
- Kathy
A Better Use for $62,000,000 - November 4, 2019
Sara Busey, member of the End Streamline Coalition, surprised us with figures from their recently published Cost Study of Tucson’s Operation Streamline. Tucson is one of ten U.S. cities using this expedited criminal process for migrants.
Taxpayers are spending over sixty-two million dollars per year for Operation Streamline in Tucson. 70% of that cost is for incarceration in private prisons operated by Tennessee-based Core Civic; so, 70% of the expenditures leave the state. With that $62,000,000 Tucson could instead create 1,123 infrastructure jobs. See more suggestions in the Tucson Operation Streamline Cost Study.
- Susie
Taxpayers are spending over sixty-two million dollars per year for Operation Streamline in Tucson. 70% of that cost is for incarceration in private prisons operated by Tennessee-based Core Civic; so, 70% of the expenditures leave the state. With that $62,000,000 Tucson could instead create 1,123 infrastructure jobs. See more suggestions in the Tucson Operation Streamline Cost Study.
- Susie
A Sweet Memory of Friendship and Lost IDs Found - October 21, 2019
There they were, far out on Coronado Forest land: a one-year-old child’s birth certificate — stuck in the crook of a tree, her dad’s identification card lying in the dust, a child’s camouflage tee shirt, and a small distance away, a carefully folded child’s drawing in colored pencil. And more clothes.
Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans delivered the birth certificate and ID card to the Mexican Embassy. We are wondering what had happened here, knowing that we will never know...
- Judith
Baby Chicote - October 7, 2019
The tiny toddler shoe is a combination of pink, turquoise, yellow and purple with flowers, butterflies, crescent moons and stars stitched on denim. It has two silver sparkle laces attached beneath a velcro strap embroidered with the words “Baby Chicote.” The anti-slip white rubber sole apparently didn’t live up to its name because some little girl slipped right out of it leaving it behind on the migrant trail where it was found in the middle of the road by Samaritans on a recent search. It’s a poignant reminder that these are human beings, fellow travelers on the trail, struggling for their very lives, even little girls who love butterflies, moons and stars. It’s why we never stop looking. - Gail |
Young and Old Get Help at El Comedor - September 23, 2019
Reports from El Comedor (Kino Border Initiative’s lunchroom in Sonora, Mexico) today included an 87-year-old woman who traveled in a wheelchair from Guatemala. Just when everyone was leaving, a beautiful five month-old baby girl was carried in by Pancho, a Mexican nurse who offers medical help to many in Nogales, Sonora. They were accompanied by the baby's mother and three-year-old sister. The family was traveling alone from El Salvador and the baby was not well. A Samaritan nurse examined and treated the baby, who improved and was fine. Many more children are being seen routinely at El Comedor, compared to times past.
- Judy
- Judy
Newcomer's View - September 9, 2019
This Nugget is from a newcomer to Green Valley attending her first Samaritan meeting. One of the GVS Search teams encountered a Tucson Samaritan Search team that had discovered a group of 26 asylum seekers close to the border earlier. The apprehension of that group led directly to the apprehension of a second group of 80. It was a hot dry August day. "I can't imagine the desperation shared by these asylum seekers - their stories will be told someday, I hope."
- Laurie
- Laurie
Border Patrol Chats - August 26, 2019
We regularly hear about conversations with Border Patrol as part of search reports. We were reminded this morning that occasionally we encounter unpleasantness, sometimes there is little response to our attempts to converse and sometimes we have good conversations with them. Can't paint them all with the same brush.
- Sandra
- Sandra
The Policy of Metering - July 1, 2019
At today's meeting, folks working at the Comedor (in Sonora, Mexico), the monastery (in Tucson), or observing at Operation Streamline (at the US Federal Court building in Tucson) all report that the people, including significant numbers of young children, who want to make a case of "credible fear" to US authorities, are having to wait in Mexico. They are in Mexico for weeks and even months, just to present themselves, as a consequence of the policy of "metering," which seriously limits the number of people allowed to state their desire for a hearing.
- Sandra
- Sandra
Boss in Back - June 22, 2019
As a Samaritan, I volunteer at El Comedor in Nogales, Sonora where we go every Tuesday to help feed migrants. Sometimes when crossing back into the U.S., Border Patrol asks us what we were doing in Mexico. When we say feeding migrants at the Comedor, we get various responses from cold stares and silence to a rare “Thank you for what you do.”
At the I-19 checkpoint north of Tubac, BP is used to seeing the Samaritan vehicle with the sign on the side. On a recent trip, there were four of us returning from Mexico, and for once, Shura, our leader, was not driving. Instead Harry was driving with Steve in the passenger seat. Shura and I were in the back seat.
Much to our surprise, after pulling up to the checkpoint, the BP agent took one look at us, smiled and waved us through and said, “I see the boss is in the back!” We all laughed as indeed, the boss was in the back. For a moment we were all just folks, enjoying a light-hearted laugh.
- Gail
At the I-19 checkpoint north of Tubac, BP is used to seeing the Samaritan vehicle with the sign on the side. On a recent trip, there were four of us returning from Mexico, and for once, Shura, our leader, was not driving. Instead Harry was driving with Steve in the passenger seat. Shura and I were in the back seat.
Much to our surprise, after pulling up to the checkpoint, the BP agent took one look at us, smiled and waved us through and said, “I see the boss is in the back!” We all laughed as indeed, the boss was in the back. For a moment we were all just folks, enjoying a light-hearted laugh.
- Gail
Sleeping in the Cemetery - May 20, 2019
At the Monday, May 20 meeting we were reminded that while we hear about the asylum seekers being assisted at shelters in Tucson, there are 800 some others waiting in Nogales, Sonora, waiting to present their credible fear claim in hopes of being allowed to seek asylum in the United States. There are not enough shelters there, so many find themselves sleeping on the streets, in the cemetery, wherever they can. And their wait can be two months or more.
- Sandra
- Sandra
Searches Offer Aid - May 6, 2019
Our searches south of Arivaca are finding more migrants than in recent years. It has been nearly every week in fact. One of them involved a seriously dehydrated man who had been separated from his group. Samaritans rendered humanitarian aid until Border Patrol agents arrived and apprehended him. The agent was kind and light handed. These are always emotional interactions. It was the first for our drivers. They also had two first-time searchers along from out of state.
- Laurie
- Laurie
Wonderful Work - April 24, 2019
One of the Samaritans, on the way back from a Comedor visit, reported that two BP officers approached the Samaritan vehicle at the I-19 Checkpoint and thanked us for the work we do, saying, "You people do wonderful work." Especially nice to hear from Border Patrol.
- Sandra
- Sandra
No Eggs in the Courtroom - April 13, 2019
You have to be careful what you bring into a federal courthouse these days. I had my tiny two-inch pen knife on my keychain taken away from me once when I tried to enter DeConcini Federal Court House in Tucson where Operation Streamline is held. The daily fast-track criminal prosecution of migrants began in Tucson in 2008. Green Valley Samaritans attend twice a week as part of our keeping watch outreach.
Recently Samaritan Sara agreed to take seven dozen raw eggs to the monastery asylum shelter in Tucson on her way to Operation Streamline. Road construction delayed her 30 minutes, so rather than leave 84 eggs in a hot car for two hours, she decided to take the eggs into the courthouse. She says she had no trouble getting through security despite jokes about being an “egg lady.” The staff obviously thought there was no danger of guns being brought in via eggs.
While waiting on the second floor with her eggs, however, Sara was surprised to have a young man in uniform rush up to her yelling, “No eggs in the courthouse!” As if she were trying to pull a fast one, he added, “ I know your story, so don’t bother telling it to me.”
Sara left with her dangerous eggs and drove them to the monastery missing Operation Streamline that day. When she arrived at the courthouse the next week, Sara said security personnel showed no signs of recognizing the “egg lady.” She said she had thought of bringing one hard boiled egg to place in the security tray to go through the scanner, but thought better of it. One doesn’t want to play around with dangerous eggs.
- Gail
Recently Samaritan Sara agreed to take seven dozen raw eggs to the monastery asylum shelter in Tucson on her way to Operation Streamline. Road construction delayed her 30 minutes, so rather than leave 84 eggs in a hot car for two hours, she decided to take the eggs into the courthouse. She says she had no trouble getting through security despite jokes about being an “egg lady.” The staff obviously thought there was no danger of guns being brought in via eggs.
While waiting on the second floor with her eggs, however, Sara was surprised to have a young man in uniform rush up to her yelling, “No eggs in the courthouse!” As if she were trying to pull a fast one, he added, “ I know your story, so don’t bother telling it to me.”
Sara left with her dangerous eggs and drove them to the monastery missing Operation Streamline that day. When she arrived at the courthouse the next week, Sara said security personnel showed no signs of recognizing the “egg lady.” She said she had thought of bringing one hard boiled egg to place in the security tray to go through the scanner, but thought better of it. One doesn’t want to play around with dangerous eggs.
- Gail
We Were Honored - April 8, 2019
We were honored at our April 8th meeting to be visited by nine students and five adults from the Plymouth Congregational Church (UCC) from Seattle, Washington. In keeping with the mission of their historic church in downtown Seattle, they wanted to learn more about border issues from a Samaritan perspective. Their questions were thoughtful, insightful, and sincere. Visiting us is how they spent their Spring Break. We were honored by their presence.
- Russ
- Russ
What Brings You Joy...in this Despairing World? - March 25,2019
- For some wee ones, it’s a look in the mirror to see themselves looking back and giggling at the their reflection. For some toddlers, it’s the adventure of riding in a car seat for the first time ever and wondering why the other toddler nearby is shrieking at being strapped in. And for some young children it’s wearing the same Mickey Mouse hat for three days in a row as noted by a migrant father regarding his young son.
These are the tales of joy recounted by volunteers at Tucson’s Catholic Community Services Monastery Migrant shelter for asylum seekers. When I take in my donations, I need only walk a short distance before one young man or another, guests at the shelter, offer to help me with my load. In the kitchen, always awash with smiling volunteers cooking, baking, mixing and stirring, I drop off my sandwiches, apples and oranges, maybe hear a thank you on my way out the kitchen door.
It’s not about the thank you. It’s about feeding people; it’s about lending a helping hand in any way we can; it’s about making a difference, about making eye contact with vulnerable people, listening to their stories, touching, offering; it’s about honoring and respecting and looking for joy wherever we can find it. And in return, we volunteers connect to our thrive tribe, and once again we are able to go on, no matter what.
It takes a village. The cavalry is not coming to save us. Whatever we have been able to do that day, make a meal, help a teen find a shirt and a backpack, transport a family to the bus station to get them started on their road trip to family and hope, even smile and lay a hand on their shoulder—it all counts. It’s good for them and it’s good for us, and good for our soul. It’s the right thing to do. We are the “us” we’ve been waiting for.
- Gail
These are the tales of joy recounted by volunteers at Tucson’s Catholic Community Services Monastery Migrant shelter for asylum seekers. When I take in my donations, I need only walk a short distance before one young man or another, guests at the shelter, offer to help me with my load. In the kitchen, always awash with smiling volunteers cooking, baking, mixing and stirring, I drop off my sandwiches, apples and oranges, maybe hear a thank you on my way out the kitchen door.
It’s not about the thank you. It’s about feeding people; it’s about lending a helping hand in any way we can; it’s about making a difference, about making eye contact with vulnerable people, listening to their stories, touching, offering; it’s about honoring and respecting and looking for joy wherever we can find it. And in return, we volunteers connect to our thrive tribe, and once again we are able to go on, no matter what.
It takes a village. The cavalry is not coming to save us. Whatever we have been able to do that day, make a meal, help a teen find a shirt and a backpack, transport a family to the bus station to get them started on their road trip to family and hope, even smile and lay a hand on their shoulder—it all counts. It’s good for them and it’s good for us, and good for our soul. It’s the right thing to do. We are the “us” we’ve been waiting for.
- Gail
Hundreds Waiting for Legal Processing - March 11, 2019
We were reminded again of the extent of the humanitarian crisis on our border as a result of the exodus from Central America, due in large measure to the effects of climate change and the extreme violence in those countries. There are hundreds of people, including many children, waiting in Nogales, Sonora, for an opportunity to make their request for asylum (a completely legal process), but only 10-15 are processed daily. The shelters in Nogales are over-full and the Comedor, where usually 40-80 migrants are fed, have recently had as many as 300-500 hungry people showing up, greatly taxing both their capacity and their food supplies. - Sandra
They Just Keep Coming - February 13, 2019
"They just kept coming." That's how a member of the Samaritans described the scene last week at El Comedor where she was volunteering. Seventy-five adults and twenty-five children were crowded into the Comedor: seeking safety, finding sustenance, and enjoying fellowship. Most were from Guerrero, Mexico, a change from previous weeks, but like all the rest, they were fleeing poverty, violence, and the control of gangs and cartels.
- Russ and Rita
A Gut-Wrenching Story - January 28, 2018
Margo Cowan, the immigration lawyer behind the "Keep Tucson Together" legal clinics, came to our meeting to recruit more help. There are jobs for everyone, Spanish speaking or not, legal training or not. The effort is growing like crazy, trying to keep up with the needs. There are successes and failures.
A decision in a recent case trying to establish hardship to a family should their mother be deported was gut wrenching. The sexual abuse of a young daughter, a U.S. citizen, by a family member, was not enough to stay the deportation.
- Laurie
A decision in a recent case trying to establish hardship to a family should their mother be deported was gut wrenching. The sexual abuse of a young daughter, a U.S. citizen, by a family member, was not enough to stay the deportation.
- Laurie
You Walk on Water - January 14, 2019
During a seemingly routine recent water drop, our vehicle was approached by a Border Patrol agent who told one of our members "You walk on water."
He went on to say that back in 2014 he had found a young girl in the desert who had been raped repeatedly and left to die. As she was severely dehydrated and near death, the agent picked her up and began to carry her back to his vehicle. On his way, he found water Samaritans had left in the desert. Our work and the agent's humanity saved her life. No one should die in the desert.
- Russ
He went on to say that back in 2014 he had found a young girl in the desert who had been raped repeatedly and left to die. As she was severely dehydrated and near death, the agent picked her up and began to carry her back to his vehicle. On his way, he found water Samaritans had left in the desert. Our work and the agent's humanity saved her life. No one should die in the desert.
- Russ
Complex Realities - December 2, 2018
Here are two Nuggets from Monday’s meeting that instruct us well. The realities of the border are complex. One of Samaritans’ purposes is to discover these complexities.
A young man from Honduras presented himself to a member of our group within the last few weeks. He had traveled four months from Honduras, ending in a five day walk, to reach the border. Abandoned by his coyote, he wandered the desert for 15 days before making it to Green Valley. After receiving food and water, he was on his way toward a hopeful future. Miraculous.
Out on a Samaritan Search, one team encountered a Border Patrol agent and talked for an hour. While some agents are reluctant to talk or they rant, this agent was fair minded and thoughtful. Possessing a Masters Degree, he endeavored to do his job with respect and concern. In six years on the job, he has had only 2-3 threatening situations and none involved firearms.
- Russ
A young man from Honduras presented himself to a member of our group within the last few weeks. He had traveled four months from Honduras, ending in a five day walk, to reach the border. Abandoned by his coyote, he wandered the desert for 15 days before making it to Green Valley. After receiving food and water, he was on his way toward a hopeful future. Miraculous.
Out on a Samaritan Search, one team encountered a Border Patrol agent and talked for an hour. While some agents are reluctant to talk or they rant, this agent was fair minded and thoughtful. Possessing a Masters Degree, he endeavored to do his job with respect and concern. In six years on the job, he has had only 2-3 threatening situations and none involved firearms.
- Russ