CPTnet
8 July 2005

ARIZONA/SONORA: As migrant death toll rises, CPTers add crosses to border
wall

This summer, CPT began spray-painting white crosses on the wall separating
the United State from Mexico to commemorate each migrant death in Cochise
County, the location of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Arizona. The
team, along with local partners, placed three crosses on the wall on 25 May
2005. On 30 June the team added two more crosses. When they arrived at the
site, they discovered the original three crosses painted over with black
spray paint and an earthen bridge the team used to cross over to the wall
bulldozed. The team assumed that the changes were the work of the Border
Patrol. Under the watchful eye of Border Patrol agents, the team, along
with members of a CPT delegation and local partners, repainted the three
original crosses and added two more. Each participant then hammered on the
wall to indicate that this separation wall must come down. Border Patrol
agents did not approach the group, but one agent wrote down the license
plate numbers of all the cars present.

On 7 July, CPTers and local partners returned to find the crosses again
covered with black paint. The group repainted the crosses on a different
panel of the wall, and added two more for the deaths in Cochise County this
week. The number of crosses on the wall now totals seven, one for each
death in Cochise County this fiscal year. The group hung small, white
crosses marked "No More Deaths" over the five blackened original crosses.
The group then prayed for the Border Patrol, migrants, and vigilantes, and
renewed their own commitments to prevent desert deaths. Border Patrol
agents greeted the group and monitored their activities, but they did not
attempt to interfere.

The seventy-mile wall is constructed of steel panels about twelve feet high
that were previously used as landing pad material during the Vietnam War.
The wall is designed to prevent migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border
at points of higher population density, thus forcing them to cross in the
more dangerous and remote desert areas. So far, 135 known migrant deaths
have occurred this fiscal year (which ends September 30) in Arizona. The
number is higher at this point than at the same point of any previous year.