Crossing the line
EXCLUSIVE: Students challenge U.S. immigration policy
Jessica Davis, Content Manager
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Nearly 60 migrants would come into the shelter that night, dumped into the small border town of Agua Prieta, Mexico by the U.S. Border Patrol after being caught crossing the border in Arizona’s deadly Sonora Desert.
Juniors Kyle Navis and Tyler Schroeder were on shift at the Center for Attention to Migrants "Exodus" (CAME) as part of a 12-day trip across the Arizona and Mexican border. Their job was to staff the shelter, administer medical supplies, food, water and coffee to migrants as well as document any reports of abuse.
For some, this would be their fourth or fifth journey across the border. But for four men from Mexico City, this was their first trip. They had been caught by Border Patrol while trying to cross the border and wandered into CAME, where Navis and Schroeder were on duty.
The six young men struck up a conversation with Navis serving as the translator, being the only person on duty who could speak Spanish.
“It was their first time (crossing),” Navis said. “It was like 'we don’t have enough. We need to go where we can make money to live'.”
Navis said they talked about political philosophy and family, all in Spanish.
“Everyone had a jovial time even though it was the economic refugee area,” Navis said.
Over the next two hours during the conversation, Schroeder said he began to understand why U.S. immigration policies are failing.
Challenging U.S. immigration policies was part of the reason Schroeder, Navis and senior John Williamson traveled to parts of Arizona and Mexico with a Christian Peacemaker Team, an organization that seeks non-violent resolutions in crisis situations worldwide.
“No matter how hard you try to close the border it's not going to work because these people’s desire to get into the U.S. is so strong,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder said the wall, which divides the United States and Mexico border as a deterant of illegal immigration, forces people to cross in more dangerous areas of the desert instead of stopping migrants from crossing.
“Building the wall is creating more death,” Schroeder said. “It’s not a deterrent at all.”
The actual number of deaths in the Sonora Desert around Arizona is largely unknown because the U.S. Border Patrol does not keep an official count. The humanitarian organization No More Deaths reports 238 migrants have died in the Sonora region since October 2006.
To learn more about immigration, Navis, Schroeder and Williamson decided last spring to join Christian Peacemaker Teams.
All three Whitworth students said they knew only a little about immigration before leaving Schroeder’s home in Colorado for Tuscon, Arizona.
Williamson said the trip was designed to be more than a learning experience, as the group would conduct symbolic acts of protest to raise awareness about human rights abuses on the Mexico/Arizona border.
“We went into it pretty foggy,” Navis said. “We had plenty of assumptions but we wanted to learn.”
The three only had a chance to read the information packets on the plane to Tuscan.
“I was really apprehensive,” Schroeder said. “John and I were like, what have we gotten ourselves into?”
Hospitality houses
Starting in Tuscan, the three students, along with 10 other team members, traveled around parts of Arizona and Mexico conducting public actions of protest from May 24 to June 4 this past summer.
One hour south of the border lies Altar, Mexico, which serves as the last stop before smugglers, known as ‘coyotes’, pick up migrants to cross the border, Navis said.
Although the team was only there for a few hours, Navis said he was able to understand more of the immigration process.
“Altar’s economy is based on catering to the migrants moving north,” Navis said.
Navis said everything a person would need to cross the desert can be purchased in the small town. Bus lines end at Altar where migrants from Southern Mexico are recruited by smugglers.
“[The smugglers] tell them, ‘We’ll get you to Houston for $2,000,’” Navis said.
He said the migrants stay at one of 90 hospitality houses, each with 200 beds that are more like metal slats with a small patch of carpet.
Flies were everywhere on everything, Schroeder said of the hospitality houses.
“The flies were the most sickening to me,” Schroeder said. “The conditions were horrific. I couldn’t imagine living in those conditions. It’s 100 times worse than I could ever imagine.”
Up the street from the hospitality houses lies an empty shelter run by a Catholic parish.
Navis said the smugglers inform their customers to stay at a particular hospitality house until picked up.
Navis said the smugglers can come at any time and the migrants have to be ready cross within a few hours.
Wackenhut
Once back in the United States, the team decided to protest the private security company Wackenhut Services Incorporated.
Williamson said Wackenhut is contracted by the U.S. government to transport migrants to Border Patrol stations.
The team followed around a Wackenhut bus for four hours as a form of accountability, Williamson said.
Navis said the team asked the Wackenhut workers if they could bring the migrants food and water, which are services Wackenhut is supposed to provide.
Williamson said one Border Patrol agent put out cardboard signs protesting the team.
“A dust cloud came through and knocked the signs away,” Williamson said.
Navis said a woman from their team went and put the signs back up to show respect for difference of opinion.
Walking the trail
Toward the end of the trip, the team met up with a convoy of activists who had been walking for one week from the border to Tuscan.
Navis, Schroeder and Williamson walked with the group for the last two miles on pavement into Tuscan.
Navis said at least five people flashed obscenities as they drove by, but overall he was surprised at the large number of people who expressed support.
The roots of migration
After the 12 days spent observing and speaking with migrants, Border Patrol and community members, Schroeder said he believes the U.S. government’s immigration policies are failing.
“We’re basically throwing money at a problem that money is not going to solve,” Schroeder said.
The economic situation in southern Mexico needs to improve to put a plug on illegal migration, Schroeder said.
“If they are not starving there will be no reason for them to come north,” Schroeder said.
Williamson said many of the people he interacted with were coming north to be reunited with families.
He said the larger economic problems in Mexico exasperated by free trade has been driving people north with the hope for a better wage.
“It just gets overwhelming if you are not too careful,” Williamson said. “There are so many things wrong with the world and at the same time you meet so many people with the love of family. You learn go much from their joy.”
Unsure about public protest
Both Williamson and Schroeder said they were surprised at how uncomfortable they were with public protest.
Schroeder said he discovered he would rather work one-on-one with people than participate in acts of public protest.
Williamson said he discovered he also was not comfortable with public acts of protest.
“I wrestled with it,” Williamson said. “I’m questioning the value and purpose.”
While unsure about public acts of protest, Williamson said he cannot look at immigration in the same light.
“I think anytime you get to know people’s personal story you realize people’s motivation for going north,” Williamson said. “They are human beings.”
Contact Jessica Davis at jessica.davis@whitworthian.com.
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Colin Sanders
posted 10/23/07 @ 8:06 PM PST
I just wanted to say that I agree that our nation is a migrant nation, but all the people that migrated into America in the middle of the century did it the legal way. (Continued…)
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