Click on the link and see a slide show from our Borderlinks Experience of March 11-14, 2013
The wall
Borderlink Slide Show When you get in click Slideshow at top right
Nature's border patrol
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Desert
TRIP TO THE BORDER
BorderLinks Delegation: Tucson to Nogales and Back
Participants: Steve Goering, Susan
Ortman Goering, John Schneider,
Anne-Marie Patrie
March 11-14, 2013
The Second Day By:
Steve
The Desert Walk: A Time for
Prayerful Reflection Sent:
Mar 27, 2013
The morning came early on the second day. We hustled from
our overnight quarters and joined our group for breakfast. Conversations began early with scripture and
meditation. Tito, one of our two leaders
who lives in Nogales and Nick from St. Cloud read scripture from Isaiah that
spoke to desert images. The images of dryness, of the desolate and that of
water. These were hints of our
experience of the morning –the Desert Walk.
We loaded into the 15 person van and headed south towards
the border; however the Desert Walk was much closer to Tucson than
anticipated. Somehow, I expected the
walk to be in a completely isolated, desolate region. Yes, it was desert, but we could see nearby
houses, exactly as some migrants experience it.
There was an amazing variety of cacti; one was fluffy looking (the
jumping cholla) with brutal stickers that would go right through a normal
non-leather walking shoe. We needed
combs to pull them out. Make no mistake; this was true desert. Brutal in summer
and winter. In summer, the ground surface temperatures can rise to 165 °F. In
winter, temperatures drop well below freezing.
As migrants traverse these paths, they have no cover, often bad shoes,
limited water and food. They are driven
by hope. So they continue to try. We have no way really to imagine their
decision. We are privileged; we
literally cannot walk in their shoes and their experience. Leaving all
behind. Everything. And still deciding
to go.
Ed Lord of the Green Valley Samaritans led our desert
walk. The Green Valley Samaritans are
people of faith and/or conscience who believe that providing aid to people in
desert distress is witness to the fundamental value of human life. They drive
the desert, leaving water and picking up migrants who have been left to die by
their coyotes. They serve the belief that there should be no more desert
deaths. Deaths do happen here. Our
friends living in Tucson noted that 30-40 deaths per year still occur on the
large Tohono O’dham Indian Reservation west of Tucson. That number is multiplied many times over the
long border regions. Several thousand
have died over the years.
The actual desert walk terrain was harsh as is presented in
the attached pictures. It was probably about 85 °F that day; it felt hot but
was 30 degrees cooler than on summer days. We were advised to be sure to take
adequate water. Migrants, walking 40 miles in this terrain try to carry a
minimum of 2 gallons of water, but they often run out. We walked about 1 ½ miles on this Tuesday
morning. We wondered how far one could
walk in a normal day given that the border is a good 40 miles from Tucson or
alternately I-10. We guessed that even
if one could average 15 miles per day in a straight line, one here would only
manage northern progress of 5-10 miles per day.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Dreamers
TRIP TO THE BORDER Blog #3
BorderLinks Delegation: Tucson to Nogales and Back
Participants: Steve Goering, Susan
Ortman Goering, John Schneider, Anne-Marie Patrie
March 11-14, 2013
The End of a Long Day One.
Scholarship A-Z
March 22, 2013
Susan
Background.
In the
early evening of the 1st day, we met with three young undocumented youth,
David, Louisa, and Maria (we have changed their names). They are part of the
group now referred to as “The Dreamers.” They are unauthorized immigrants who
were brought here by their parents when they were children. They have lived in the United States most of
their lives; this is their home and yet they have no legal status. They also do
not have meaningful homes in their country of birth since they have not lived
there for many years. In some cases,
they are not even fluent in Spanish.
The
Dreamers live in a sort of limbo, always fearful that they or their parents
will be picked up for some reason and deported. Once they graduate from high
school, most are unable to go to college.
Prop 300, signed in 2006 in Arizona, made them ineligible for the
financial aid most college students depend on. Since they do not have legal
residency, they cannot obtain a green card and cannot get a job. They have no
future as compared to those of us who were born into privilege.
The
Dream Act, as Federal legislation, was first proposed in the Senate in 2001 and
has been reintroduced several times since then. The last proposed legislation
was in 2011-2012 legislative session. The Dream act would have provided 360,000-400,000
undocumented youth of good moral character and who are in school with the legal
means to work, attend college, and eventually become citizens if they met
specific criteria. However, it did not pass the Senate.
In June
2012, President Obama, by Executive Order, initiated DACA, the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals. DACA is not a path to citizenship, but does provide
qualifying young people with temporary relief from deportation and work permits
for a two year period. In Arizona, Governor Jan Brewer issued an executive order preventing
the state of Arizona from issuing driver’s licenses and public benefits to
young illegal immigrants who receive deferred status and work authorization
under the new program. In addition to driving privileges, Governor Brewer’s
order bars illegal immigrants who qualify for deferred action from receiving
state-subsidized child care, health insurance, unemployment benefits, business
and professional licenses, and government contracts.
The
undocumented youth we spoke to via Borderlinks started a program called Scholarship
A-Z which was founded in 2009. It provides
support and resources to the many young people who are unable to become
citizens. Scholarship A-Z does
networking and fundraising, and also helps young people apply for those college
scholarships that are available to the undocumented. Scholarship A-Z has helped 900 students go to
college and has lobbied for in-state tuition for students who fall under DACA. Recently, the Pima County Community College
has agreed that undocumented students will be charged resident tuition which
was a major victory for these young people. They have taken major risk to
publically advocate for these changes – that risk being to be vulnerable to
deportation.
The Law and Operation Streamline
TRIP TO THE BORDER By: Susan
Day 1 ,
March 11 Sent:
3/22/2013
We arrived in the BorderLinks
office in Tucson just before noon on March 12 after a very early flight. (We left the house at 5:30 – too early for
people our age!!) We were in time for
lunch. BorderLinks staff members take
turns cooking for the delegations. Food
was vegetarian, interesting, plentiful, and delicious!
 |
| Old Immigration cartoon shared at beginning of Borderlinks experience |
A Brief Introduction to Immigration Law.
We caught the last half of an
immigration lawyer’s presentation outlining immigration law. Immigration law is complex and sorely in need
of reform. We learned the following:
--The US Immigration
Department is years behind in processing visa applications for persons wishing
to come to the US from Mexico or Central America. They are currently processing applications
submitted in 1993. Thus, an application
made now might not be processed for twenty years.
--There are complex systems
for getting priority points for obtaining a visa. It depends on whether you are married or
single, have immediate family members who are US citizens, etc.
--If you have entered the US
not legally and wish to obtain legal status, then you must return to Mexico and
apply for a legal visa. However, there
is a ten year bar before you can even re-apply (and then face a potential
waiting period of twenty more years).
--Federal executive orders
have been issued that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) should focus on
criminal, and not non-documented migrants who have been lawful. However, the non-documented are always at
risk of being picked up via a traffic violation or something similar.
--Committing a crime can be
grounds for deportation, but these are prosecuted at the discretion of the
prosecuting attorneys. In the case of a
minor offense, the prosecuting attorney may or may not deport.
--An immigration industrial
complex has developed. This includes
construction/maintenance of the wall, highly increased border patrols, migrant
lawyers, US Marshalls, detention centers and prisons.
--The system is
intimidating. It is difficult for the
average person to grasp and even more difficult to vision what immigration
reform should look like.
--A visual picture of these
complexities is shown at the following link from Time Magazine, June 2012.
Operation Streamline.
After lunch we walked to the
Courthouse to observe Operation Streamline. Operation Streamline is an initiative of the
Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice begun in 2005 in
Texas and 2008 in Tucson with the intention of establishing “zero-tolerance”
immigration enforcement zones
along the U.S.-Mexico border. Under Operation Streamline, unauthorized
migrants face criminal
prosecution and potential
prison sentences in addition to formal deportation and removal from the
United States. Previously, illegal entry was
Our Trip to the Border
TRIP TO THE BORDER
BorderLinks Delegation: Tucson to Nogales and Back
Participants: Steve Goering, Susan
Ortman Goering, John Schneider,
Anne-Marie Patrie
March 11-14, 2013
March
22, 2013
Susan
Background
Our daughter, Katrina is in Mennonite
Voluntary Service, serving at BorderLinks in Tucson. We have been aware of
immigration issues and the need for immigration reform for some time now,
particularly related to immigrants from Mexico and Central America. However, it is Katrina’s involvement that
pushed us to go on a delegation and learn more.
A second motivation is simply the desire to be peace and justice makers related
to our faith. It is about “following Jesus” day to day which is integral to our
inward/outward faith journey. We have
done this kind of experiential travel in the past, to El Salvador, Guatemala,
and Honduras. Each time it has changed
us and opened our world to new ideas and understandings. It has changed our life stories and how we live.
John and Anne-Marie have traveled more extensively than we have and have also
been shaped by those experiences. Together
we now share our reflections; we also will be open to personal conversations
with anyone(!) and hope to share our perspectives with state and national
legislators.
BorderLinks has been around for about twenty-five years and grew out of the Sanctuary Movement for
Central American refugees in the late 1980s; its mission includes experiential
educational delegations. Delegations are immersed in border and immigration
issues; staff design an itinerary suited for each delegation, considering their
specific needs and wishes. Delegations interact with undocumented persons,
representatives of Customs and Immigration Enforcement, lawyers involved in
immigration issues, public defenders, and a variety of agencies and individuals
that assist migrants in different ways.
Delegations may also choose to go into Mexico, experience the wall on
the border, and walk in the desert to see the places where bodies have been
found. Delegations hear the actual human stories of those involved on all sides
of the issue. Visit their website for information about delegations, and their
other programs and mission. (www.BorderLinks.org)
In order for a delegation to be financially viable, it must include 7
people. Steve and I, and our good
friends John and Anne-Marie from Louisville were able to join another small
delegation. We thoroughly enjoyed
getting to know a group of five 18-22 year old students and their leader, all
from the Newman Center at the University of St. Cloud, St. Cloud, MN. They dubbed themselves the “less mature”
segment of the delegation. We took on
the designation of “more mature” or “life-long learners.” Sigh. Together we created a wonderful group
of newer and longer life learners.
Please check out the BorderLinks website for more information about this
grassroots organization, and consider developing or joining a delegation. Read our daily blogs to follow to get a taste
of our experiences.
(www.BorderLinks.org)
© Susan Ortman Goering
March 23, 2013
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