Kate Lynch is an intern for the Latin America Working Group. She traveled in July to the desert of Aravaca, Arizona as a volunteer for No More Deaths to provide food, water, and medical attention for migrants in need.


August 1, 2005

"The migrant sat hunched over on the side of the road, unable to lift his head or even his hand to take a sip of water. He had been wandering the Arizona desert alone for days searching for help. His eyes, bloodshot and hazy, stared through a misty glaze towards the ground. He was no more than 5 feet tall and weighed around 100 pounds. He wore a red baseball cap and carried a heavy pack filled with clothes and family memorabilia. The group with whom he had begun this disastrous journey had now abandoned him because he was too slow. The $1,500 he paid for a smuggler was now lost. He hadn’t eaten in three days and his water bottle had been empty for hours. He was conserving his last drops for a day and a half. He mumbled as he spoke of his failure to make it, of his young daughters who will go hungry, and of the dying man he was unable to help. He wanted to go home.

"This was my introduction into the world of migrants at the US-Mexico border. I am an intern with the Latin America Working Group, working on Mexico policy in Washington. Two weeks ago, I volunteered to spend a week with No More Deaths, a donor-funded volunteer group that assists migrants in Arizona’s Arivaca desert who need food, water and medical attention. The volunteers traverse the desert by car and foot, distributing food and water and providing medical attention when necessary."

A Simple Mission
"Their mission is simple: to save lives - whether that means calling Border Patrol, evacuating people to hospitals or just giving away a new pair of socks. The volunteers are compassionate and determined in the face of hostility from the Border Patrol. They are undeterred even by the recent arrests of two volunteers—charged with “transporting illegal aliens” while en route to the hospital with three very sick people. No More Deaths seeks to raise awareness of these border killing fields of the Arizona desert in the rest of the United States. They also urge Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform as a solution to this tragedy.

"The migrants’ situation is desperate. Many of the migrants had been abandoned by larger groups, or had become disoriented and lost their direction only to walk aimlessly for days. All were dehydrated, out of water and without food. Some had feet covered in blisters that were so painful, they were no longer able to walk. Some were aware of the distance required to reach their destination, but others believed that New York was a day’s walk and that Los Angeles was but an hour west.

"I met men and women who had no choice but to cross the desert so their families could survive. They left their homes in southern Mexico and Central America to have a chance to make money in order to buy food and medicine for their children.

"A man named José limped down a trail toward Arivaca fighting the urge to turn back around and start the 20 mile hike back towards Mexico. The terrain was rugged and rocky and the record heat merciless. The blood from his feet saturated his socks and shoes and with each step surely brought excruciating pain shooting from his blisters. One of our trucks spotted him and brought him back to the camp for medical attention. Inside his wallet was a picture of his two young daughters dressed in white, no doubt on the day of their first communion. He told us that is what kept him going.

"Most of the men and women helped by No More Deaths were in similar dire situations like José’s. They had no other choice but to risk their lives crossing a vast desert in search of work. Some had been warned of the dangers of the desert, and others even had family members who died trying. But even this did not dissuade these people. Unfortunately, as of July 15, 166 people have died in the Arizona desert, and more than 300 people have perished border-wide. I was meeting the survivors. As they continued their trek, I couldn’t help but wonder if they would also become statistics.

"In Arivaca, the small town south of Tucson where the No More Deaths’ camp is located, residents cannot ignore the hundreds of migrants crossing the desert day after day. They leave trash, clothes, thousands of water bottles and, increasingly, their own bodies as they pass through. I walked through abandoned migrant camps, filled with backpacks, shoes, children’s toys and pictures. It’s an eerie feeling standing where someone hid, scared to death of being discovered. I often found myself imagining how they felt and wondering if they had made it successfully.

"The fact that there are volunteers for organizations like No More Deaths gives me hope. The people I met during that week in the desert are inspiring. They recognize that this is a problem that didn’t exist 10 years ago. This is a direct effect of policies that force migrants to cross the border through the most desolate and dangerous passages. They have a solution to this seemingly, endless despair: to pressure and support Congress to pass legislation that will allow migrants to enter this country in a humane way, and to continue saving as many as they can until there are No More Deaths.

"I will never forget the faces of the migrants I encountered. I will never be able to shake the feeling that giving food and water was not enough. Day after day, No More Deaths saves dozens of people, but despite these efforts, dozens more die. I can’t help but think that if this situation were in backyards across the country and not just the remote deserts of the Southwest, the policy would have been changed by now.

"The last migrant I encountered before returning to my very fortunate American life, was a man from Chiapas, Mexico. His family had pleaded with him not to go to the United States, fearful that he might die. He had waited to make the journey but with his two children’s deteriorating health, he was forced to go look for work in the United States to make money to pay for their medicine.

"I found him lying between two trees after walking for 4 days. He didn’t know where he was and had been abandoned in his sleep by two others he had met on the way. He had no food or water, no shirt, and the thinnest shoes I have ever seen. His skin was burned from the sun and his lips chapped and swollen. While I was evaluating his condition he stopped answering my questions looked up at me and said, “Your father would have crossed for you.” "

--Kate Lynch

What can you do about the awful situation along the US-Mexico border? The easiest way to stay informed of the situation and get suggestions for action is to join the LAWG Border policy email network. Click here to join.