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Volunteers plan to aid migrants in desert

PHOENIX - Inspired by the biblical lesson of welcoming the stranger, volunteers are planning to staff round-the-clock desert camps to aid illegal border crossers coming into Southern Arizona this summer. The "Arks of the Covenant" desert camps, which will provide water, food and medical help, are part of a larger effort by Arizona's religious groups to curb what has become a crisis of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border on foot only to die of heat exposure and thirst. "All our efforts are within the federal provisions of humanitarian assistance," said the Rev. John Fife, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd St. Andy Adame, a representative of the Tucson sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, said he couldn't comment on the planned volunteer desert camps because he did not know enough about them. Federal law prohibits anyone from aiding illegal immigrants "in furtherance of their illegal entry," including sheltering them. Fife was one of at least 150 religious leaders from across the state who gathered on the lawn of the Arizona Capitol Monday morning to sign a statement of solidarity against the federal government's border policy. The leaders agreed on a list of policy recommendations and pledged to step up education of their parishioners about the annual string of deaths in the desert. "Today we put our faith into practice," said Jorgé Montiel, a parishioner at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Chandler and a member of the East Valley Interfaith organization. "Our spirituality includes shaping public policy." Some leaders at Monday's gathering said the show of solidarity recalled the Sanctuary movement of the 1980s, when churches and other religious groups aided people fleeing war-torn Central America. The movement began in Tucson but quickly spread nationwide. "This is a big deal," Fife said of the current effort. But this time, Fife said, the movement is acting within the law. In the 1980s, Sanctuary workers helped smuggle the immigrants into the country, resulting in a federal felony conviction for Fife. Organizers say the Arks of the Covenant will be set up on Memorial Day weekend and will remain at least through July. The camps' locations had not been determined. Fife said it is a version of the existing faith-based Samaritan Patrol, a program beginning its third year of sending teams in vehicles into the desert to offer food, water and medical help to border crossers. Christian Peacemaker teams will provide between six and eight people to staff at least one of the Ark camps, said Rich Meyer, a member of the international organization. "Sometimes the example of church leaders can lead the government to change laws," Meyer said. "As Arizonans, we have a special responsibility to reach out to and welcome our brothers and sisters as members of God's family," Gerald F. Kicanas, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, told Monday's gathering. "We cannot remain silent as these deaths continue to mount on our doorstep." The Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol reported 139 deaths in the desert for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2003.