CPTnet
July 3, 2004

ARIZONA/SONORA BORDER LANDS: Desert fast calls attention to migrants' plight

by Sara Rickard

Members of the Christian Peacemaker Team and visiting delegation began a
six-day fast in the Sonoran desert to pray for the safety of migrants
crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and to raise awareness of unjust border
policies.

The CPT fast is part of a series of actions coordinated with No More
Deaths/No Mas Muertes. No More Deaths is a Tucson-based coalition working
to end the deaths of migrants through direct humanitarian intervention,
support to migrant centers on both sides of the border, and advocacy for
humane border policy.

To alleviate the physical suffering of migrants, participants in the fast
offer survival food, water, and medical attention to those who pass their
camp. By the end of the first day, CPT members had distributed their entire
supply of food and water and had seen more than twenty migrants pass through
the immediate area. Some migrants wandered in alone, after having been
separated from their traveling companions, and asked to have the Border
Patrol contacted to take them back across the border. One woman who was
abandoned by her coyotes (paid guides) said that they had raped migrant
women from Honduras who had been traveling with them. Human rights activists
claim that in this area of the desert 20-30% of migrants are assaulted on
the trail.

According to Mexican Consular officials, 49 migrants in Cochise County and
over 200 migrants total died while crossing the border this year. Most of
last year's deaths occurred during the month of July. Eight Mexican migrants
have died already in the county this year. While delegates visited Thursday,
the Mexican consulate received a call reporting the death of a woman from
Zacatecas.

Aside from the inhospitable climate, migrants face the dangers of traveling
with often-unreliable coyotes, the attacks by bandits on both sides of the
border, and mistreatment by Border Patrol agents and local vigilante
landowners.

"As a nation, we discuss immigration in economic terms and security terms,
but we rarely discuss the issue in human terms," said Tim Kortenkamp (Santa
Cruz, CA) "Being in the desert puts a face on this very human reality."

CPTers Mark Frey (Chicago, IL) and Ron Friesen (Loveland, CO) are fasting in
the desert for the first three days, and Scott Kerr (Evanston, IL) and Le
Anne Clausen (Mason City, IA) will fast during the second three days, when
the camp will move to a new location designated as a sanctuary for migrants.
CPT delegates are joining team members in their fast and the team is also
receiving visitors from local organizations and community members.

CPT delegation members, who visited the team from June 26-July 3, 2004,
included Clausen, Tim Kortenkamp (Santa Cruz, CA), Paul Horst (Evanston,IL),
and Sara Rickard, (Chicago, IL.)