Deportation Traffic Court

I went to the shiny new Federal courthouse in Tucson and found the courtroom for the special deportation program "Operation Streamline". I went with Diane Dowgiert, minister of the Unitarain Universalist congregation in Tucson. Without her, I probably would not have actually gotten there and done it, and I'm usually pretty good at getting to things on my own. It was that intimidating! I had accidentally brought my little camera, which I had to leave at the checkpoint. They let us keep our phones and did not make us take off our shoes.

We found the courtroom, where people involved in the proceedings were being held not only in all the places to sit in the "business" section of the courtroom, but also in the benches normally used for the public, over on the left of the room. They asked us to sit way over on the right, leaving the large middle section empty. Public defenders were also everywhere.

The translator went through the rows of prisoners passing out headphones so they could hear the translation of the proceedings. I noticed he used hand sanitizer afterwards, but I guess anyone would after handing out forty or so headphones to a bundh of strangers.

It became clear as people were called forward to participate in court proceedings that they were manacled with chains around their waists, and shackled. A few had orange prison t-shirts. Most were in the nondescript, faded clothes that seem typical of Hispanic working people. Almost all of them were men.

Everything was well organized and civil. There had been a sorting out of cases, so the great bulk of them were people who had accepted plea deals for some prison time with deportation afterward. (I learned that first-time offenders of being in the country illegally are convicted of a misdemeanor and deported, but that any subsequent occurrence of being in the country illegally is a felony. These were all felony cases.)

A few cases that were going to go to trial or be dismissed were handled at the beginning of the session. The rest was a litany of accepting plea deals through the translator. I wondered if everyone had understood their options. I wondered if all the public defenders spoke good enough Spanish. I wondered what conditions were like in detention. It looked and sounded respectful, but so much took place before anyone appeared in open court. Is this okay? I'm thinking probably not.

It was chilling to realize the size of the flow of deportations from this one place. This court meets three times a week. I heard that Tucson has the largest volume of deportations in the country. Surely there is a better way.

Crossing Borders

People have been crossing the border and ending up in Tucson for years. Once, before the Gadsden Purchase, there was no border. Then for a long time, it was very casual, with people going back and forth for business and family visits and thinking little of it.

There came a time when people fleeing violence in the South began to arrive here seeking shelter. The wheels of bureaucracy turned slowly, slowly, as these political refugees petitioned for asylum. For some, the ones from Nicaragua and some of the ones from El Salvador, their politics were not right. Along the border, a system of sanctuary churches quietly called itself into being. It was an interfaith effort, involving Catholics, Presbyterians, and Unitarian Universalists that I know of, and the memory of this forms the oldest layer of organizing around illegal border crossing in this area. When I visited the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Tucson, I saw the oddly placed sign outside the minister's office and heard the story that it covered the hole the FBI had made when they broke in and went through the files to find out where the political refugees were being hidden.

Now, people fleeing economic catastrophe in the South have been coming, and continue to come. When there is no other way to make sure the children have food, people cross in all the various ways available to them. I don't know how the connection works for sure, but I think it's not a coincidence that this latest wave of migration began with the signing of the North American Fair Trade Act (NAFTA). It has affected some parts of our economy more than others, and although the claim is that undocumented migrants are merely taking jobs that "legal" Americans won't do, the truth is that they will work for much lower wages and tolerate much more difficult working conditions. If not for undocumented people afraid to make a fuss, some industries -- vegetable harvesting, meat processing -- might have to offer decent wages and working conditions. The situation is far from simple.

The Desert and the Wall

Today I joined with a community college group for a very quick tour of a few important aspects of the border expereince just South of Tucson. Our first stop was in Green Valley at the home of one of the founders of the Samaritans, a group that walks the desert trails to provide humanitarian assistance to people who are walking from the border towards Tucson. The people they help are undocumented, and the basis for the help is that it is never illegal to keep people from dying, even though it is illegal to provide help in making their way into the country. So they walk a fine line, with jugs of water, socks, shoes, and first aid supplies in their packs.

Walking where migrants have been walking, where migrants might be concealing themselves nearby, this is a very moving experience, even though we were not out very long. Even on this late October day, it was warm out there. Even though it was not particularly hilly or rough, the land was a bosque,studded with cactus and prickly shrub-like trees. Migrants travel at night to reduce the chance of detection, and I kept thinking of how it might be to dodge through that underbrush.

The spot we were touring was carefully selected -- it had been near a pick-up spot, so there were signs that people had been waiting there. Not recently, but the signs were clear. Items of clothing, backpacks, water bottles, strewn by the side of the trail. I thought of the people who had walked at least two days to reach that spot from the border -- of their determination, of their desperation to find some way to survive by taking this tremendous risk.

We got back in the bus and rode to Nogales. A border runs through it. We stayed on the Arizona side and looked at the wall. It used to be a solid metal wall with lots of art painted on it. This summer, they built a new, improved, wall, of metal posts just far enough apart that you can sort of see through it. The perception of one town with a fence down the middle is even clearer -- we could see Nogales, Sonora, right there, going about its business. We chatted with a young Border Patrol agent who told us about the tunnel they had filled in just under where we were standing. We had lunch in the park and heard the story of someone who had crossed illegally twice and decided to return twice. In that context, the story was especially moving.

Those are the things I need to report. Probably the pictures tell the story.

Occupy Tucson

It's not really on my agenda for this trip, but I did happen to run across the encampment of "Occupy Tucson" this morning while out walking. It was really too early (just before 8 AM) to visit with anyone, although some folks were up and stirring. Everything was in good order, and the occupiers seemed to be blending in with the downtown homeless crowd pretty well. A police officer was mediating a dispute between an occupier and a homeless guy about the homeless guy's behavior (I did not find out what it was). A group of police with bicycles and a Segway were gathered in the shade across the street, but they seemed pretty mellow.
Last week's local independent weekly newspaper had a story about negotiations over tickets that were supposedly going to be written for folks who camped overnight, but I guess that was resolved. Everyone here seems grateful that Tucson is not Phoenix. They apparently don't lead with pepper spray!

If someone can tell me where to get a cup of coffee in downtown Tucson, I'd be grateful!

Getting Started in Tucson

I can't say enough about the kind hospitality at Borderlinks, whose mission is to help people understand the border here. Five years ago, I spent a week with them, mostly on a trip in which we visited the little town of Altar, where a small border crossing was at that time the focal point for informal crossings at dispersed locations; then in Mexico, to a shelter where people planning to cross could find a meal and a place to sleep and a shower -- also a talking-to about just how dangerous the crossing could be. We went to Nogales, Mexico, and staysd with families in the barrio, visited a maquiladora factory, and went shopping for groceries (not to buy, but to see quality, selection, and price).

We met people in Nogales who were working with people who had been returned across the border, saw the wall from the Mexico side, and experienced the crossing through the high-security checkpoint at Nogales. We camped out in the desert and walked some of the paths used by migrants. I learned a lot. Then I went back to New Hampshire, where most undocumented people have other kinds of stories. Still, this was an eye-opener. I had much greater appreciation for undocumented people in my community.

Now that I am in the Denver area, I wanted to come back and see what has changed, to reconnect, and to make some new connections. When I contacted Borderlinks, I got a quick reply and lots of suggestions about how to make those connections, as well as an invitation to take a day trip (tomorrow) to hit the high (low?) spots of the border crossing experience, just the thing for finding out what has changed. I suspect the amazing Arisona desert will be the same. What they tell me in Denver is that this would be the likely area for people who have been deported from there to try to return.

I can think of no better way to introduce Unitarian Universalists to the reality of the border situation, not only in Arizona, but everywhere in the United States, than a delegation with Borderlinks
To organize a trip for your group to the Arizona border, you should be in touch with Borderlinks, www.borderlinks.org, 620 South 6th Avenue, Tucson AZ, 85701-2302.
Their phone number is 520-628-8263.

The people in the photo are Susanna McKibben, Executive Director Fernanda Morillon, Elsbeth Pollack, Nancy Cordova, and Development Director Scott NIcholson.

A Quick Adventure

Now that I am in Colorado, where it's noticeable how many people are Hispanic, I'm ready to see what a UU minister might do about issues around migrants.

I went to a meeting for clergy sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee here and found that there's a lot already going on. One of the challenges will be to find ways to fit in. There's the once-a-month vigil at the detention center in Aurora. There are occasional opportunities to visit detainees. There are sometimes chances to stand with people at their deportation hearings. Someone from my congregation goes regularly to Tucson, AZ, with socks, belts, and shoelaces, for people who have been released from detention and don't have those things. I learned that people being deported from the Denver area go through El Paso, a much more dangerous area for people being returned.

Five years ago, I went to Tucson myself for a human rights trip to the desert where people walk into the United States and various places associated with that desert walk -- especially Nogales, MX, where it was perfectly clear why some people choose the risky desert crossing. Hundreds of people still die each year.

This fall, I want to update my understanding of the border, so I'm going to take a quick visit again to Tucson. I'll be staying with Borderlinks, the group who organized the trip I went on the last time. The adventure starts Wednesday and ends Saturday, so we'll see what happens!