PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOFTHE DESERT BETTS FOUNTAIN PRINTING HUMANE BORDERS PROOFMay 2019 BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOFHUMANE BORDERS, INC. BETTSARIZONA OPENGIS FOR DECEASED PRINTING P.O. Box 20724, Tucson, Arizona 85726 humaneborders.info [email protected] PROOFwww.humaneborders.org BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING Page 1 PROOF BETTS PRINTING Page 2 FROM THE CHAIR – REFLECTING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD Dinah Bear PROOF BETTSGreetings PRINTING in this new year. on the work that we do at Humane Borders. To date, we Many of us live with different ways of marking “new years.” We have different calendars have not experienced direct impacts. We continue to receive for diverse religious faiths, calendars that mark time in fiscal support from the landowners and managers on which our years, and school calendar years. At Humane Borders, it stations are located, and we have received all of our federal PROOF BETTSmight bePRINTING said that spring is the beginning of our new year, as permits. There have been concerns raised about the efficiency marked by our annual Blessing of the Fleet event (See story and effects of our stations in the west desert areas of southern “Humane Borders 7th Annual Blessing of the Fleet”). Even Arizona in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and as we enjoy the astonishing beauty of the desert in spring, we Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, both in terms of the PROOF BETTSknow thatPRINTING the hot days of summer are almost upon us and is stations themselves and as compared to Border Patrol rescue the most important time for us to be out in the field. beacons located in these areas. Questions include the level of usage and the placement of the stations south of an especially As a nonprofit charitable institution, we were blessed dangerous wilderness area. We are committed to taking a last year with a tremendous amount of support, both in hard and honest look at these questions over the summer and PROOF BETTSterms of PRINTINGvolunteers and donations. We appreciate this so very will keep you informed. much! Many people were especially motivated by what they read in the news about the inhumane treatment of migrants As has always been the case, we continue to see and asylum seekers. A good number of Humane Borders significant fluctuations in water usage along various routes. PROOF BETTSvolunteers PRINTING also volunteer their time working with and on Sometimes stations go unused for weeks or months, only behalf of people released by immigration authorities into the to see high usage just at the point where people start to Tucson community. This work began back in 2014 with the conclude that the station is not in a good location. It’s always Truck 9 increase in numbers of people from the Central American been hard to predict usage and it is even harder now. Where countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador coming we are unequivocally providing more water is on the south PROOF BETTSto the UnitedPRINTING States to seek asylum, most frequently to escape side of the border. We have been leaving water in Sasabe, the horrendous gang violence occurring in those countries. Sonora for many years, but Humane Borders is additionally As a community, Tucson has turned out in force to make sure furnishing water at two shelters in Sonoyta, Sonora as well that people are not turned out on the streets but are treated as assisting with the provision of groceries at one of them PROOF BETTShumanely PRINTING and with respect. (see story, “Helping at Migrant Shelters in Mexico”). Thanks to a generous donor in Tennessee and magnanimous donors in Tucson, we now have two new Finally, we are delighted trucks –a new water service truck replacing a 2006 truck that to welcome Anne Lowe and PROOF BETTShad finally PRINTING and completely broken down, and a pickup truck Mike Monroe to our Board of for use by our operations manager. As many of you know, Directors, as well as our new these vehicles were badly needed, and so we at Humane part-time staff person, Rebecca Borders are very thankful to welcome “Truck 9” and “Truck Fowler, whose experience PROOF BETTS10” into PRINTINGour fleet. For a dip into nostalgia, do read Stephen and interest in humanitarian Saltonstall’s “paean” to our retired Truck 5, otherwise known assistance goes far beyond the as “Sal.” administrative responsibilities that she has assumed. I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say we’d trade all PROOF BETTSthe increased PRINTING support in a minute if we could wave a magic Thank you for taking this wand and change the circumstances that make our work journey with us and for your necessary. Sadly, those circumstances seem to get worse by continued support. the week and certainly more confusing. It’s hard to keep track PROOF BETTSof all thePRINTING policy changes that get proposed or promulgated In gratitude, Truck 10 and then overturned as violations of law by the courts. You Dinah Bear may be wondering if these events have had any direct effects PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING PROOF BETTS PRINTING Page 3 Page 4 SHELTER STORY – HELPING AT MIGRANTPROOF SHELTERS IN MEXICOBETTS PRINTING the cooking. There are separate dorm rooms for women Dinah Bear and men, as well as a good cooking area and yard area. The PROOF BETTSsecond shelter,PRINTING called Casa de Los Migrantes, is much larger and was housing roughly 90 migrants in tents and cinder block buildings. Our observations there included everything from the need for better management of trash, to a puppy who needed some medical attention (which we obtained that PROOF BETTSafternoon PRINTING at a local veterinarian clinic at no cost to Humane Borders). One of the most revealing experiences was a PROOF BETTSconversation PRINTING we had with a migrant we’ll call Roberto, who told us that he planned to cross the border in a few days outside of an official border crossing. When we explained the dangers of crossing, it became clear that he had no idea how far he would have to walk or how much water he would PROOF BETTShave to carry.PRINTING In fact, the area that Roberto was undertaking Kitchen Area, San Pedro Shelter to cross is the single most dangerous region of the Arizona border. The area is so hostile to human life that hundreds of pioneers died in the area in the 19th century as they tried to PROOF BETTSmake theirPRINTING way to the California gold rush. Starkly beautiful, the area provides scant shade from soaring temperatures that reach as high as 120 during summer months between May and October. If a migrant tries to walk north in a straight line and is able to continue north of the area where we have PROOF BETTSwater stations,PRINTING he or she will still have to traverse the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge wilderness area where water stations are not permitted, and would then have to continue onto the desolate expanse of the Barry M. Goldwater live PROOF BETTSbombing PRINTING range, a combined area of some eighty-six miles in total. Ajo HB Volunteer Doug Schnare services water station at San Pedro Migrant Shelter, Sonoyta, Sonora. Since at least 2002, Humane Borders has distributed One of several themes that has emerged in the past two years Deaths, began bringing supplies and medical support to the warning posters in Mexico to educate people on the hazards from the current administration is “Keep them in Mexico.” PROOFshelter but could not keep up with the demand BETTS for water. of crossing PRINTING and to try to discourage them from making the Not surprisingly, the result has been an increase in the need Humane Borders stepped up, installing a water station journey. Following our conversation, we revised our warning for migrant shelters in communities on the south side of the and replenishing the water on weekly runs. During 2018, poster to provide more detail about how long it takes to walk U.S.-Mexico border. When there has been need for life-saving the shelter was moved to a better location and a second to Phoenix from that Lukeville/Sonoyta (18 days) and how water, Humane Borders has always been quick to respond PROOFshelter was established in Sonoyta with theBETTS help of a church. much waterPRINTING would have to be carried to survive (54 gallons). with the provision of humanitarian aid at different sites along That shelter also needed a reliable water supply, which we Those posters are going to both shelters and we hope this the border in Sonora, Mexico. provided. Later, we learned that there was also a need for information will be taken into serious consideration as regular contributions for groceries at the second shelter, and migrants make critical decisions about what to do and where In the fall of 2017, one of our volunteers in Ajo we are now providing a monthly stipend for that purpose. to go. identified such a need upon hearing of a bad situation at a PROOF BETTS PRINTING make-shift migrant shelter in Sonoyta, Sonora, right across Rebecca Fowler and I visited both of these shelters the border from Lukeville south of Organ Pipe Cactus in April of this year, and it was a very interesting and National Monument and Ajo, Arizona. At the time, about worthwhile experience for both us.