CPTnet
15 June 2005
ARIZONA/SONORA: CPTers walk the migrant trail from Mexico to Tuscon
>From May 30-June 5, members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in
Douglas, Arizona, along with a CPT delegation, walked from Sasabe, Mexico to
Tucson, Arizona to replicate the path taken by migrants from Mexico. About
fifty walkers completed the 75.9 mile trek. The event was organized by the
No More Deaths coalition of Tucson, a CPT partner in the area. The walk was
an opportunity to bring attention to the arduous conditions in the desert
that migrants must endure in order to cross the border successfully.
U.S. immigration policy has closed up border crossings near populated areas,
forcing migrants to cross in the most dangerous desert areas. Migrants
cross in order to fill vacant low wage jobs in the United States.
Activists estimate that as many as 4000 migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico
border each day in Arizona alone. At least 3000 migrants have died making
the crossing since 1994.
Participants completed the walk largely in the morning to avoid the intense
summer heat of the Sonoran dessert. With water available every 2 miles,
walkers still had difficulty remaining hydrated as the heat increased later
in the morning, but the medical team that included three CPTers were on the
look out for any heat related illness. Everybody who started the walk was
able to finish.
In reflecting on her experience, CPTer Kim Lamberty said, "The walk was a
time of great grief for me. As I walked in the hot sun, breathing in all
that dust, I imagined a migrant person walking the same path and at some
point coming to the realization that they would not be able to continue.
Ever." Scott Kerr added, "This walk will give me energy and focus as the
summer deaths increase."
CPT maintains a team in Douglas, Arizona in order to reduce or prevent the
number migrant deaths due to the dangerous border crossing.
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Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches
(Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and
membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations.
Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
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