Migrant Trail Walk

One year ago this month, I was in Oaxaca, Mexico and along the US/Mexico border learning about the experience of migrants and what pushes them to embark on such a dangerous journey. In the second and final week of the Witness for Peace delegation, we walked 75 miles through the Sonoran desert south of Tucson, the corridor that has become one of the most dangerous areas for border-crossers. As I read the article below, I reflect on my own experience in the desert and pray for those migrants crossing that treacherous stretch of land right now. While we here in Oregon are joyful about this new summer-like weather, countless sojourners, our sisters and brothers, are suffering in the oppressive desert temperatures which are already nearing 100 degrees. I am grateful for those who continue to walk until there are no more deaths!

Migrant Trail Arrives in Tucson to
Testify About Border Experience

Sunday, May 31, 2009
11:30am
Kennedy Park, Ramada #3
Tucson, Arizona

Tucson- An international group participating in the sixth annual Migrant Trail Walk from Sásabe, Sonora to Tucson, Arizona will arrive on Sunday, May 31st. The 75-mile Walk will culminate in a press conference, followed by a community gathering at Kennedy Park in Tucson, Arizona. The Migrant Trail, a walk through the most traveled corridor on the Arizona-Sonora border, sponsored by a coalition of local and national organizations, bears witness to the thousands of women, men and children who have lost their lives in an attempt to provide a better future for themselves and their families.

"The human remains of more than 1,720 women, men and children have been recovered on the Arizona border since 2003. They are the direct result of our failed and unconscionable U.S. border policies," says Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos, a Tucson-based sponsor of the Walk. "We, as people of faith and conscience, are called to make this journey together as witnesses, to be the voices that our migrant brothers and sisters no longer have."

For the last six years, this collaborative effort has joined friends and allies from across the country and from international backgrounds for a one-week experience through the Sásabe corridor, where most crossings occur and the vast majority of remains are recovered along the Arizona-Sonora border. An act of solidarity, the Walk bears witness to the death, violence, division, and xenophobia that has resulted from failed border and trade policies.

Betty Hung, a first time walker from Los Angeles commented, "As we walked the Migrant Trail in honor of those who have lost their lives simply in order to work and feed their children, I was struck by the enormous tragedy caused by the United States' failed immigration policies. While the government protects the Sonora desert as a wildlife refuge, Border Patrol agents roam the refuge hunting for migrants. I saw a sign that said "No Quail Hunting in the Refuge." Yet Border Patrol agents hunt migrants. Instead of preserving life, the refuge has become killing fields where the lives of migrants have been destroyed."

The Migrant Trail Walk will begin the final 6.7 miles of their journey at 9am at the BLM campsite on Ajo Way and San Joaquin Road. Participants will be welcomed home at Kennedy Park with speakers, music, food, and testimonies from participants and supporters. This event is free and open to the public.