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Posted: May 14, 2008
Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants try to cross illegally into the United States through the hot, remote Sonoran desert. Since 1993, nearly 2,000 of them have died. That's according to Humane Borders, a faith-based organization in Tucson whose primary mission is to provide drinking water to crossers in an effort to head off potentially fatal dehydration.

In the seven years since Rev. Robin Hoover, the pastor of Tucson's First Church of Christ, co-founded Humane Borders, it has expanded from two water stations to 90. Hoover claims that the stations have made a statistically significant reduction in the number of migrant deaths in the area.

The promise of those reductions was enough to convince Pima County officials to issue Humane Borders a $25,000 annual contract to expand its work. The county reasoned that the water stations reduced spending on emergency rooms and morgues, amounting to a marginal savings.

Volunteers Chuck Ashley and Jack Steindler, respectively 76 and 85 years-old, made the rounds one recent morning to check the water levels in four of Humane Border's water stations. Along the way, they explain what drew them this work and why putting water in the desert makes sense even though it is there for those crossing the border illegally.

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Comment by Nicolas Stahelin | 2008-05-23

Wow, what an amazing story these old guys, their work is admirable. great interviews, an altogether very effective and respectable way of addressing such a tragic topic. the shots of the desert, the board with the red dots marking deaths, the leaking water at the end, very symbolic and all very well put together overall. It's an essential story because it transmits not only important data - the numbers and such - but also an impression of sorts, an illustration of the reality of illegal crossing that so many in the US are ignorant to, and that numbers cannot convey. Great and very important work.

Comment by Tina Shull | 2008-06-01

Thank you... more coverage is needed on the difficulties of these journeys. Most Americans have no idea how hard and life threatening it is, and if they did, they would better understand the limited choices migrants face in coming here.

Comment by Robb | 2008-06-20

Amazing. A great story of this group of individuals that thakes it upon them selves to encourage criminals and to help illegal aliens break our laws. Rev. Hoover should be brought to trial for aiding and abbetting criminals, encouraging illegal aliens to brak our laws. If Rev. Hoover really wanted to help these people he would move to mexico and fight for social justice in mexico. Instead he encourages people to break the law, people whowill be nothing but a burden on our social systems. Amazing.

Comment by xj | 2008-06-30

Some people that cross the board don't end up being a "burden on the social systems". Take Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojos for example. He was from Mexicali, across the boarder from Calexico, California. He crossed illegally and learned English and he went to Harvard Medical School and is now one the top neurosurgery, oncologists; in other words he's a cancer brain surgeon.

Some people that happen to be born in a certain part of the world have les or no ambition, than those born only footsteps away, that happen to be born lower into the eyes of the "right".

Comment by JTR | 2008-08-08

Rev. Hoover is a true Christian. Any American who vilifies works of mercy is a Pharisee. Remember them? Jesus called them a brood of vipers, because they followed the letter of the law and not the spirit. The fact is that US immigration laws are cruel and unjust. When laws are unjust, then there is no law, just a struggle to live. Sadly, most Americans are not like Rev. Hoover. They are just the opposite.

Comment by Nicolas | 2008-09-08

Actually, according to another group, the Border Network for Human Rights, the total number of migrant deaths between 1993 and 2006 exceeds 3000. (see "2006 Report on Migrant Deaths at the U.S.-Mexico Border" - http://www.bnhr.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=1&Itemid=6)

This report confirms what many have observed, and what this video illustrated, that increased "border security" in traditional, urbanized crossing zones have caused migrant crossings to sprawl out to remote, rugged and inhospitable areas. As long as the "push factors" precipitated by NAFTA and other projects of the neoliberal agenda, fatalities will continue. I guess folks like these from Humane Borders providing humanitarian relief right within the US borders will continue to be needed in the future.