Humanitarian Boarder Groups
Working along the border area to prevent deaths and educate
NO MORE DEATHS:
http://forms.nomoredeaths.org/en/ An official ministry of the UU Church of Tucson... a coalition of community and faith groups. Founded in 2004, an aid camp SE of Arivaca was established where medical aid and respite are rendered to migrants found in the desert and mountains. Participants are often college students on break or summer leave. The ministry utilizes hiking search methods, water/food drops on trails, medical aid, overt civil actions around human rights issues, and research. They have published studies of neglect and abuse of migrants by Border Patrol, treatment in detention facilities and other human rights issues related to migrants. BORDER LINKS:
http://borderlinks.nationbuilder.com/ A nonprofit educational organization based in Tucson that connects people to the reality of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands and immigrant communities in the United States. They offer delegations to Arizona-Sonora and Chiapas, Mexico for groups from around the world as well as locally-based programming for our community. Community Workshops provide educational programs to groups for their class, church, or civic group. Workshops provide interactive learning experiences around immigration & economic policy, fair trade, privilege, and intercultural understanding. People Helping People Formed by Arivaca citizens in an effort to provide organized aid to the many migrants who come through that community. A supply aid office is located in the town center staffed by local citzens, folks from the No More Deaths and some Samaritans. The office also provides informational pamphlets, lends and sells books, music, and t-shirts. PHP leads an effort to close the internal Border Patrol checkpoint on Arivaca Rd. and hosts events and educational workshops in the community, such as Know Your Rights Trainings, Medical Trainings, Spanish Classes, and presentations about the border/prison industrial complex and other border crises topics. |
SAMARITANS
http://gvsamaritans.org A diverse group of volunteers who render aid, emergency medical assistance, food and water to migrants in distress crossing the Sonoran Desert in the Tucson Sector of the Arizona/Mexico border with the primary objective of preventing death. Samaritans is a mission of Southside Presbyterian Church since 2002 and Green Valley–Sahuarita Samaritans formed in 2004 and meet at the Good Shepherd UCC church in Sahuarita. They drive in the desert on a weekly or daily basis supplying water drops, searching for lost or injured migrants and assist weekly at El Comedor, a soup kitchen mission of the Jesuits in Nogales, Sonora for migrants recently deported. Samaritans also attend Operation Streamline in Federal Court to be witnesses and a kind presence to migrants in that process and have cooperative relations with the Border Patrol agents in the field. . HUMANE BORDERS: http://www.humaneborders.org Humane Borders, founded in 2000, offers humanitarian assistance through the deployment of emergency water stations on routes known to be used by migrants coming north through our desert. The sole mission is to take death out of the immigration equation. Their water tanks are large blue barrels with a blue flag, placed on a combination of private and public lands with permission from the landowners. Volunteers check, refill, repair or replace water tanks regularly. Border Community Alliance:
http://www.bordercommunityalliance.com/ A bi-cultural, bi-national citizens’ initiative in partnership with FESAC, a Sonoran NGO, dedicated to a social investment philosophy designed to protect, develop and enhance the unique cultural characteristics and shared economy of the twin cities along the border. It serves as a sponsor and incubator for social entrepreneurial community development programs such as the autistic children’s center, Venciendo al Autismo, and the ARSOBO wheelchair and assistive device project. |