BAJA 4 MINISTER’S BORDER IMMERSION TRIP

  Baja 4 Ministerbaja-4-ministers-border-immersions stand in front of a mural painted by members of the Green Valley UU congregation.  The mural is on the side of the Arivaca Humanitarian Aid Office visited by the Revs. Ron Phares (Mountain Vista UU), Matthew Funke Crary (Green Valley in Amado UU), Christiane Heyde (Community Minister affiiated with MVUU), Lisa McDaniels Hutchings (Executive Director of UU Justice Arizona) and Linda Lawrence (Sky Island UU).
arivaca-humanitarian-aid-office
The Arivaca Humanitarian Aid Office provides assistance to people who have made the dangerous trek across the border.  Assistance includes counsel of the dangers of crossing the desert, food, water, and clothing.
grave-near-arivacaThis is one of many graves near Arivaca marking the places where human remains of migrants have been found.

This priest has repriest-death-threatsceived death threats for keeping El Commodore (the dining room) open in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.  El Commodore provides two meals a day for a short period of time before deportees move on.  

shura-wallinShura Wallin, an active participant in Los Samaritanos (the Samaritans) and No Mas Muertos (No More Deaths) shows a map that indicates (with red dots) all of the places where migrant deaths have been reported.  People in the background are preparing to receive a meal.

deported-people
People who have recently been deported prepare to eat a meal at El Commodore.
nogales-cemetery

 

The cemetery near Grupo Beta in Nogales, Mexico, where deportees who cannot find shelter sometimes sleep at night though it is now patrolled by Mexican police.

 

nogales-border-wallA portion of the wall that divides Nogales, Arizona, from Nogales, Mexico as seen from the Mexican side of the border.
A memorial in the Nogales, Mexico, spot that 15 yejose-antonio-elena-rodriguez-memorialar old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez was shot by an American Border Patrol agent for allegedly throwing a rock over the wall.