Many times, the key to effective lobbying is getting your issue noticed. The Border Working Group (BWG), a coalition of 15 religious organizations that LAWG staff participates in, decided to take that creed to heart, and designed a campaign to bring attention to the plight of migrants who cross the US-Mexico border in search of a better life, and the extreme outcome that affects hundreds of them each year – death.

The message on a bottle campaign highlights the environmental extremes of the Arizona desert in summer, and its toll on human life. This year has seen some of the highest death rates in the deserts of Arizona, not to mention the rest of the US border with Mexico. On average only half of all migrant deaths in the region take place in Arizona. The eastern deserts of California and some stretches of the Rio Grande river in south Texas are equally efficient killers.

To bring more attention to the plight of these migrants, the BWG purchased 1000 bottles of water, removed the labels, and replaced them with labels of our own (like the label at the center of this page). The new labels point out that migrants crossing the desert do not have the luxury of that same bottle of water that the recipient holds in their hands. And because of that fact, they died. The labels highlight the stories of four different migrants who died this summer. They also let the recipient know that they can change that reality by supporting comprehensive immigration reform that would allow migrants to enter the US safely and legally, and mentions the SOLVE Act, a bill that would accomplish that goal.

Despite President Bush’s call for immigration reform in January of this year, there has been little to no congressional action on advancing this cause. The SOLVE Act, introduced in the House and Senate as an alternative to the Bush proposal, is the most comprehensive and acceptable reform proposed to date. This campaign was crafted in part to encourage more support for the SOLVE act in the upcoming congressional session, and to express dissatisfaction at the lack of congressional action on immigration reform.

In Washington, we handed out bottles to members of the House and Senate, as well as their staff, as they were walking to and from the Capitol and their offices. With this tactic, we were able to get bottles directly into the hands of at least 50 Members of Congress. We also gave bottles to activists from around the country in Washington working to support immigration reform. Through these activists, bottles were delivered directly to 100 House and Senate offices. The campaign was mirrored by local grassroots efforts across the country, in over a dozen US cities.

ACTION: Take part in the Message on a Bottle Campaign. You can get the labels for the water bottles, and flyers to pass out alongside the water bottles as well as guidelines for how to print them and distribute them in your city. They are available for anyone who would like to help spread the message that border deaths are an unacceptable consequence of our nation’s immigration policies.