Tucson Region

'No more deaths camp' an oasis for migrants

NORTHERN SONORA - In the afternoon lines of migrants can be seen moving like long dark centipedes, inching their way north along the desert floor. They stick to the washes and brushy hillsides that offer the most cover, in hopes of making it beyond the heavily guarded, seven-strand barbed-wire fence that separates Mexico from the United States. By midnight, they begin trickling into the No More Deaths Camp, where Arizona activists teamed up with Mexican citizens since Thursday to provide food, water and a resting place to U.S.-bound migrants on a busy footpath between Agua Prieta and Naco. The camp - the fourth set up since October - was scheduled to run for two more days, but ended Tuesday after supplies ran out due to the unexpectedly high response. Thursday through Monday, the camp served more than 1,500 meals of beans, rice, potatoes, tortillas and bread, and distributed more than 800 gallons of water and supplies. Organizers including Tommy Bassett of the group Healing Our Borders say the camp is there to aid those in distress and maybe even keep someone from dying. The Border Patrol says 141 illegal entrants died along the Arizona border with Mexico last fiscal year, but an Arizona Daily Star analysis of medical examiner and Mexican consulate reports put the figure at more than 200. Critics say the weeklong encampments provide aid and comfort to an invasion the U.S. government is unable or unwilling to stop. "It is essentially a challenge to the sovereignty of the United States and I think it could be the beginning of something very dangerous. It's aiding and abetting. It's part of a process designed to aid those trying to violate U.S. law," said Glenn Spencer of the American Border Patrol, an anti-illegal-immigration group based in Sierra Vista. "It may be part of a new, more defiant attitude, an escalation on the part of Mexico," added Spencer. There is no official involvement by the Mexican government, although military patrols stopped in at the camp several times, and on one occasion dropped off a dazed and confused 19-year-old girl they'd found wandering in the mountains east of the camp. The girl, a resident of Chicago for the past five years, returned to Mexico for her father's funeral and had tried unsuccessfully several times to re-enter the United States when she was found. The camp, about a quarter-mile south of the border, is 100 miles southeast of Tucson. By year's end organizers plan to expand to the mountains beyond Douglas and Agua Prieta in this corridor, still the busiest crossing point for illegal immigration on the U.S.-Mexican border. Cochise County's sheriff was aware of the camp but made no changes to normal operations, said spokeswoman Carol Capas. Officially, U.S. Border Patrol officials say they also made no adjustments for the camps, which first appeared on the U.S. side of the border last year. But on the first day of this encampment, a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter flew into Mexico to get a close look, and several Border Patrol vehicles took up highly visible positions along Border Road just north of the camp. About 100 migrants a day made their way through the camp, a cooperative effort between Tucson-based No More Deaths; the Douglas groups Healing Our Borders and Fronteras de Cristo; and CRREDA, an Agua Prieta drug and alcohol treatment center. The number of migrants seeking help has been higher in Mexico than last year when the camps were set up in the United States, said Bassett. But even in Mexico, only a fraction of the migrants on the trail, mainly the ones in distress, came into the camp. Many more remained hidden in the brush, as Border Patrol agents were clearly visible patrolling about 400 yards north of the camp, said Sergio Icedo Medrano, assistant director of the Agua Prieta treatment center. To reach those who won't come close, the camp crew crams backpacks with large plastic baggies filled with water, crackers and fruit juice, then waits for sunset. Workers head out into the night, inviting groups to come in, and share the aid packets with those who refuse. Luz Maria Guerrero, 20, of the Mexican state of Guerrero, was traveling with her father and 13 others. They lost their guide and had begun to run out of food and water before seeking help. "It's very hard, much harder than I had thought it would be. It was very cold the night before last. I thought we would die from the cold," said Guerrero. Discouraged by the difficult trail and the law enforcement effort arrayed against them, several members of the group debated whether they should give up and return home. What to do next was also the talk for the group that included Veracruz beautician Andrea Salamanca, 20, who was trying to reach North Carolina. "And go home to what?" she asked. On Saturday, the third night of the encampment, several unmarked trucks were seen moving along Border Road in front of the camp. They turned out to be members of Civil Homeland Defense, a self-described militia organized by Tombstone publisher Chris Simcox. "Helping people from starving and dying, that's great," said Simcox about the encampment. Simcox said he and his companions were "helping out the Department of Homeland Security, being their eyes and ears, spotting and reporting." He said about 35 volunteers were involved in what amounted to a "dress rehearsal" for the planned Minuteman project next month, when he says more than 500 volunteers will arrive for a monthlong border watch. He said he'd been informed of the aid camp by a Border Patrol contact, but that his group has worked the same area in the past because it is a known migrant crossing point. While Simcox doesn't believe the camp attracted border-crossers, he did see it as aiding an illegal act that exploits migrant workers and forces them to risk their lives in the hands of smugglers in the desert. "I'm puzzled why these people don't help them find ways they can come in legally instead of aiding them to come in illegally," Simcox said.