NMD rallies support for immigrant in sanctuary

Transcription

1 Spring 2015 By Denise Holley Volunteers with No More Deaths hoisted signs that declared We Stand with Rosa as they launched a campaign in February to free a Tucson mother from the threat of deportation. Keep Tucson Together, a NMD Rosa Robles Loreto and put pressure on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Robles Loreto took sanctuary at Southside Presbyterian would send her back to Mexico and separate her from her husband and two sons. A resident of Tucson since 1999, 2011, which led to the order last summer. Three immigrants who sought sanctuary in churches in 2014 came to Southside Feb. 25 to encourage Robles with his family from May to June and Francisco Perez Methodist Church in Tucson from September to Decem- deportation orders lifted or cases closed. dreamed we d still be here at Christmas, attorney Margo Cowan told the Southside congregation in December. Robles Loreto s case. Edited by Denise Holley NMD rallies support for immigrant in sanctuary Rosa Robles Loreto (right) speaks at a community conversation about sanctuary Feb. 25, 2015, at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson. To avoid a deportation order, she took sanctuary in the church in August On the left is Daniel Neyoy Ruiz, who stayed at Southside with his family in May and June 2014 until Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stayed his deportation order. Robles Loreto is still awaiting action from ICE. together only on weekends. But I am a person of faith, she said, who leans on God when she feels sad. Rosa is a woman with much faith, optimism and strength, said Ernesto Portillo, Jr., editor of La Estrella, Neyoy Ruiz pledged. Continued on page 7 No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the border between the United States and Mexico by mobilizing people of conscience to uphold fundamental human rights. Founded in 2004, in Tucson, Arizona, NMD provides water, food and medical assistance to migrants walking through the Arizona desert, monitors U.S. operations on the border, works to change the war zone policy, and brings the plight of migrants to public attention. It is a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson. To contact No More Deaths, call (520) or visit the website

2 Dear Friends of No More Deaths Right now. No More Deaths volunteers and other border justice activists are awaiting a judge s decision after their trial in a Pima County courtroom in Tucson. The 12 defendants were arrested Oct. 11, 2013 for blockading two Operation Streamline buses carrying migrants to the federal courthouse for a mass hearing and sentencing. Their courageous action halted that day s proceedings and spared 61 migrants a prison sentence for crossing the border without documents. The judge dropped all but two charges and is now deciding whether these activists are guilty of being a public nuisance and obstructing a highway. Margo Cowan, the defendants attorney, summed it up succinctly in her closing statement: What happened that day is about something much greater than an inconvenience, she said. Our obligation as Americans is to hold our government accountable. Our spring volunteer program is in its second full week. It attracts college students on spring break and others from around the country during March to provide humanitarian aid in the desert. Local volunteers continue to go to Nogales several times a week to provide phones so deported people can call their family members. Nogales volunteers also provide medical aid and help people get their detention checks cashed and recover their possessions. On another front, volunteers from No More Deaths and other border justice groups work with Keep Tucson Together (KTT) to help DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) students and their families get their paperwork in order in sanctuary at Southside Presbyterian Church since Aug. 7, The goal is to persuade Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to close Rosa s deportation case and assure that her family will stay together in Tucson. Connecting the dots of these seemingly disparate activities gives shape to a vision that drives our work at No More Deaths. Our mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S.-Mexico border. Our continuing work takes on many creative forms to carry out that mission. We re grateful for your continuing generosity and your ongoing support. On behalf of our migrant brothers and sisters, thank you. In solidarity, The No More Deaths Community To contribute, write a check payable to UUCT/ No More Deaths and send it to: UUCT/No More Deaths, P.O. Box 40782, Tucson, AZ 85717, or visit our website and select the donate button. 2 Photos by Jim Marx No More Deaths volunteer Daniel Wilson completed a well and cistern project at Byrd Camp in Arivaca, Arizona, in time for Christmas Before then, NMD relied on Humane Borders to deliver blue barrels of water for the camp. Now campers and migrants use this faucet (left) for a renewable source of water.

3 Spring break campers experience the desert reality for migrants By Denise Holley Spring break doesn t mean beaches and parties for students who come to the No More Deaths camps in March. Instead, they lug water on long hikes in the rugged Arizona desert. They sleep in tents and eat with Mariah Wallace Andy Whinery other students and adults from across the country who to the Arizona desert in 2014 because there are human beings getting sick, getting hurt and dying in the desert, she said. was surprised by the scale of No More Deaths operation emergency phones, a medical tent and socks for people to change into. Now in her second year on spring break, Wallace said States. American citizen, being able to see my family, doing pretty much what I want, Wallace said. Andy Whinery, 28, from Amarillo, Texas, took a break Byrd Camp with his girlfriend, Red Samaniego. I hope to help people who are in need and get enough back to my friends and family, Whinery said. Whinery said. But seeing water bottles slashed was tough emotionally. It made me angry, Whinery said. It made me sad... action. 3 Photos by Bob Torrez water? expression, he said. Zambrano s parents left Puebla, Mexico and crossed the legal status through the 1986 immigration law, but it took years for his mother to get her green card. Zambrano said. Being Mexican-American, we are aware of the struggles our families go through. Camp facilitator Alyn (Alana) Tchirkine, 24, heard stories about crossing the desert from immigrants she met I feel like my skills are useful here, she said. I know In her second year as a facilitator, Tchirkine helps Migrants sometimes tell her, We found your food and without it, Tchirkine said. Jesse Zambrano Alyn (Alana) Tchirkine The three-week spring break program attracted 73 students and adults who camped in NMD s desert camps in

4 NMD reaches across the border Sister Mercedes at the CCAMYN migrant center in Altar, Sonora, checks a box of harm reduction kits that No More Deaths volunteers (including Jim Marx, in the background) delivered in February. She and other Catholic sisters will distribute the kits to migrants who congregate in Altar before they cross the border into the Arizona desert. By Denise Holley the border. Volunteers from No More Deaths (NMD) try to do the next best thing. They distribute harm reduction kits, a few purify contaminated water, four packets of Vaseline to instructions in Spanish. who run the CCAMYN, Centro Comunitario de Atención al Migrante y Necesitado (Community Center for Aid to Migrants and the Needy). NMD seeks to strengthen its partnership with Sonoran groups that work to protect migrants. With help from in Sara Abdula. 4 Currently, about 40 percent are Central American, Because Mexican police are taking them off the trains, many are taking the bus, hitching a ride or walking to the border. desert and checked the Spanish with Sister Ana Gilma. Volunteers met up with Father Prisciliano Peraza, pastor of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Santa Ana, which conference in Mexico City where he spoke up for migrants Peraza said. My dream is to accompany a group of migrants to the border. medical care. strong ties within and between communities that witness A man in the plaza in Altar, Sonora, reads the instructions in a harm reduction kit he received from a No More Deaths volunteer in February. Travelers from southern Mexico and Central America often stop in Altar to negotiate a trip across the border.

5 to ministries that aid migrants In Nogales, Sonora, No More Deaths partners with the Comedor two meals daily to recent deportees. organizations often speak to the migrants after breakfast and answer questions. The Comedor has a phone-charging station with a col- who lose their chargers may be able to charge their phone at the station. If not, if the migrant has the phone number, States, Mexico or Central America. callers to offer medical aid and a couple from Nogales, checks from detention centers, which cannot be cashed in Mexico. Samaritan Dr. Norma Price examines a man with pain in his ribs in February at the Comedor in Nogales, Sonora, run by a Catholic priest and sisters of the Kino Border Initiative. Volunteers from No More Deaths and Samaritans visit twice a week to deliver clothing and offer medical aid and free phone calls to deported migrants. Photo by Catherine Gaffney Father Prisciliano Peraza, the parish priest of Altar, Sonora, blesses a Virgin of Guadalupe image made by Carlos Valenzuela and donated by the group Tierra y Libertad Feb. 19 at the NMD camp in Arivaca, Arizona. Peraza heads the migrant shelter in Altar known as CCAMYN (Community Center for Aid to Migrants and the Needy) and brought volun- and People Helping People. 5

6 Volunteer shaken down as NMD releases By Denise Holley Dorothy Chao surrendered her purse, including her cell phone, passport, family photos, phone numbers and two bottles of medicine. Fellow No More Deaths (NMD) some 65 people, including reporters and photographers, watched. Chao agreed to play the role of a migrant arrested by her wedding ring and glasses, she said. Then he took the bag away. I can t see without my glasses, Chao said. I was feeling a little threatened, looking at all my stuff in the bag. This dispossession through deportation happens to told the audience in Tucson, Arizona on Dec. 10, NMD released Shakedown, its third report on abuse of Day. Nearly one third of the border crossers who are stripped their money or belongings, according to the report. Their nearly impossible to cash or use in Mexico. Without Mexican ID, a deported person cannot cash a food or a bus ride home, these people may be harassed by police, kidnapped or recruited by smugglers to cross the NMD volunteers who researched. wrote and edited the Shakedown report hold a banner after their press conference on Dec. 10, Photo by Steve Johnston of volunteer Dorothy Chao s personal belongings at a press conference Dec. 10, 2014, in Tucson. NMD was releasing its third report on abuse of migrants titled Shakedown. The act dramatizes what happens routinely to migrants in custody who are often deported without their belongings and cash. about one third of their funds, but the rest was lost. I hope you feel the anguish of the migrants, said Dr. Scott Whiteford, director of Latin American Studies at the be with family. report on migrant belongings in 2013, he said. Researchers found a large discrepancy between regions. In El Paso, 85 percent of deportees lost their belongings, Whiteford said. Belongings are usually held at Border Patrol headquarters for 30 days, the report said. But migrants sent to to six months in prison for illegal entry. When they are deported, there is no guarantee they will be reunited with their possessions. Protection) ends up in ICE (Immigration and Customs as well go to ICE with them.

7 Sanctuary continued A week earlier, Keep Tucson Together held a press conference at the church and then accompanied Rosa s sons, Gerardo Jr. and José Emiliano, We don t like moms being deported, said Sarah Launius, co-coordinator of Keep Tucson Together. for certain immigrants, Launius said. ket the Tucson area with more We Stand with Rosa signs. RIGHT: Attorney Margo Cowan speaks on behalf of local immigrants who have taken sanctuary to avoid deportation during a Feb. 25 meeting at Southside Presbyterian Church. Below her is Rosa Robles Loreto, who has lived in sanctuary at Southside since August NMD joins Mexico City conference on missing money and belongings funds to host the conference due to their close relationship with No More Deaths Abuse Documentation team and documented these abuses in recent reports. El Proyecto de Defensa e Incidencia Binacional (PDIB) cosponsored the gathering. Photo by Rociio Melendez No More Deaths volunteer Juan Manuel Aguirre describes how volunteers help deported migrants in Nogales, Sonora, cope with debit cards and checks they receive from detention centers instead of their cash. By Alicia Dinsmore how people are systematically robbed of their belonging through detention and deportation. 7 in Mexicali approached us with photocopies of checks to folks who are deported without their belongings. The strategy among the more than 40 attendees. deported migrants goes. The plan calls for coordinated from a pressure campaign against predatory debit card companies to obtaining a hearing at the Inter-American from Nogales, Ariz., who cash detention center checks for the conference.

8 Photo by Michael Hyatt Man on a mission and a Tucson Samaritan, looked at the maps of human remains charted by Samaritan Ed McCullough and lamented that none of the deceased persons had a grave marker. Using GPS to locate the site of a death, he leads volunteers bearing a cross to erect in cement at the location. By January 2015, Enciso had placed more than 100 crosses scattered across the landscape around the Tumacacori Mountains and the Altar Valley. where that person drew their last breath. I wanted to feel the enormity of the tragedy and consider the repercussions. NMD project recovers missing migrant belongings in 2014 By David Hill I wanted to share some numbers about the work done by Pertenencias tasks according to our database. Belongings picked up 129 Directly from arresting agency (Border Patrol or Customs), 14; from the federal Public Defender 82; from the Consulate of Mexico,33. (We used to collect a lot of requests for help from deported migrants in Nogales, but now we only collect them from imprisoned migrants. These requests were or are Moneys sent by wire transfer or by deposit into a bank account or prison account They total approximately 8 Belongings mailed couple to Central America) 50, in Mexico 55, both, 3. Belongings directly received from NMD by their owner s family in Nogales - 26 Requests received from migrants in prison seeking help Letters sent them, requesting instructions 170, in prison. 134; at home address, 36. Letters sent informing imprisoned owner that belongings Acknowledgments sent to prisoners (All requests get can t help) - 55