Every developed country that borders or can be accessed by a 3rd world country has a critical border security and immigration problem.  Many european countries are facing the same issues.

Interesting enough, a known fact in the film business, is that objective documentaries don’t go to far.  Without courting one side or the other while riling  up the opposite  view, a good objective presentation just doesn’t get the attention here as it does internationally. I guess the American public is so used to being entertained, that major media just has to sensationalize story segments slanted toward the particular viewpoint of their viewers. No thought process is required with this agenda so compassion fades and the gap widens.

I am honored to be a guest speaker and take part in this international exchange of ideas. It is very important to present an objective insight to the border and immigration debacle from here in Southern Arizona.  I look forward to bringing new ideas and possibilities back and opening new discussions here at my TC blog.

“Living on the Border” documentary series and blog is back after a long winters rest. Actually I had to stop for a while and make a real living in fine art. (www.karlwhoffman.com)

Originally I told my wife that I wanted to take 5 years off to document the happenings here on the border and produce the documentary “Living on the Border”. This project is my gift to future generations. However, I was informed last fall that it had been 6 years. I do owe a special thanks to my wife Audrey for all her support and understanding of the importance of this project so as of now she is my official assistant and will have to accompany me to Paris.

Starting with a solo exhibit of my border photography at the Tubac Center of the Arts the beginning of the documentary was born.  Six years later, thousands of hours in the field, post production editing,  and freelancing for major publications (internationally) the  film premiered at the loft cinema to a packed house.

Thanks to all the wonderful people, organizations, and government agencies, who have showed such great support and encouragement for the “Living on the Border” documentary series.

The self proclaimed faith based humanitarian group No More Deaths (Truth about No More Deaths) ludicrously assaults Border Patrol in their new book “A Culture Of Cruelty”. Hear say stories and foundation less accusations take aim at Border Patrol Agents and supervisors in all areas of this government organization and at all levels.

A rally to celebrate the release of the new book was held at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Tucson. Then a fired up group headed to Customs and Border Protection Headquarters to hold a demonstration in hopes of giving their cause some validity and gain some attention.  They got neither.

Arriving at BP Headquarters one could only chuckle at the circus like procession with actors dressed in costumes. Led by the famous instigator, John Fife, of course today he was the Reverend John Fife, dressed in his black shirt and white collar. Then came the “Professionals”  lady attorneys in their suites, hippies, volunteers in earth clothing, activists in all their glory, doctors and nurses in scrubs and lab coats complete with stethoscopes around their necks and followed by minstrels playing guitars and singing, but there were no jugglers just a gaggle of amateur photographers and videographers recording the debacle.

Border Patrol gates where closed to the dismay of the procession.  Heads where hung, signs and posters were rolled up, camera crews packed it in, and the activist left in a very anticlimactic exit. What ever their grand plans were, they never came to fruition.

Of course the liberal bloggers have claimed it a great success and major media this time of year is always looking for a filler.

Excerpt from Living on the Border Documentary series 

With decades of experience dating back to the Sanctuary movement,  No More Deaths and the Samaritan’s leaders who are no strangers to organizing anti government tactics. They began their new agenda by first creating a cloud of false government persecution in which to operate under. First there is “Abuse Documentation” or stories they have heard or made up that will foster sympathy for their cause and open a can of worms for any government agency that takes to close a look at their activities.

Playing this abuse documentation angle also keeps them very well funded, with large grants from the Unitarian Universalistic Funding Program and tens of thousands of tax free dollars from other churches and non profit activist groups under the disguise of the Social Justice Ministry. The term they like to use for their actions is “Civil Initiative”, nothing more than a gentle  for euphemism for revolutionary or anarchist.  To give this trump card an air of validity, they even published a book in September of 2008, “Crossing the Line” with over 100 pages of the most horrendous accusations, in the form of written accounts and affidavits, based solely on hearsay, against U.S. Border Patrol Agents working in the field and detention facilities that had never been visited. Down load PDF version of the book “Crossing the Line” This hearsay documentation was actually presented at Congressional briefing in Washington D.C., hosted by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). The U.S Border Patrol says that these allegations are false. Rep. Grialva has long been a supporter of No More Deaths and the Samaritan’s work as well as their cause.

If something works, why not try it again?  So another book is published and a larger smoke screen has been created to operate an illegal smuggling operation.

For more information on the subversive antigovernment history of No More Deaths: When Humanitarian Aid Really Does Become a Crime

Here is a chance to actually tour the American/Mexican Border, personally guided by a leading expert on the border and immigration debacle.  This is a rare opportunity to get an honest perspective of  the border dynamics through an objective experience presented by a photojournalist and producer of the Living on the border Documentary Series, who has covered both sides of the border for the past 6 years.

US News and World Report, “your photos are awesome” Stephen Rountree Graphics Director, Published in the June 25th 2007 issue

Yale University Press, London, “Living on the Border is a fascinating physical, social and psychological state”. 
Robert Baldock, Editor & Managing Director

The Indypendent, New York, “Karl W. Hoffman has captured the raw moments along the Arizona-Mexico border that challenge the human tendency to draw invisible 
lines through the landscape and people’s lives. His work is of international significance, from the Sonoran Desert to NY/NY.” Jessica Lee

Tucson Weekly “As an eyewitness to the continuing tragedies, Hoffman brings his camera to the most dangerous areas along the border.” Margaret Regan

My Border Tours and Expeditions are all inclusive, either for a one day tour starting in Arivaca or an expedition package with transportation form Tucson international airport, including meals and accommodations. The main part of the one day tour is through the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert to the walls, fences and remote barricades (how effective they really are) that mark the border and the migrant trails. Tours and expeditions can be tailored to your needs and the area of border issues that you are most interested in, along with subject specific interviews. Guided tours include explanations on sites, and terrain,with all the information contained in my lectures about the dynamics of the border phenomenon with in depth discussion. This is a total emersion into the border arena with late afternoon hikes and evening discussions. Evening workshops in postproduction editing, photography, audio and video are also available.

Karl W Hoffman

Visit

Southwest Border Tours

for more information.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day and officialy proclaimed on May 5th 1868, was first observed on May 30th of that year when flowers where placed on both Union and Confederate graves at Arlington National cemetery. The South had a different day until after WWI when the holiday changed from just honoring those that died fighting in the Civil War to Americans who died fighting in all wars. Now it is observed on the last Monday of May because of the National Holiday Act of 1971 to allow for 3 day weekends. This has caused some debate as to the distraction of the solemn meaning of a memorial day lumped into merely a 3 day weekend. To resurrect the importance of this day, the National Moment of Remembrance was passed in December of 2000.  It asked that all Americans to pause what they are doing at 3 pm on this day of remembrance and and think about the honor of those that have given their lives in the service of this great country of the United States of America.

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Humanitarian Organizations have decided to start their own remembrance on this important day by having a press conference and  launching the official start of “The Migrant Trail” a 75 mile walk to honor illegal immigration and the deaths in the desert as a result of  criminal behavior.  I convey my personal sympathy for those you have lost their lives sneaking into the United States and the broken system that surounds every aspect of the immigration and border security debacle. I have dedicated the past 7 years of my life to raising border awareness through objective presentations, exposing the hidden agendas of  groups capitalizing on the migrant targets and media sensationalism through my documentary “Living on the Border” and my website www.livingontheborder.com. Without debating the immigration issues here because I have chastised all sides at different times, I must say that it breaks my heart to see that we the people of both nations are at the mercy of right wing radicals, left wing activists, politicians, organized crime, humanitarian organizations, hate groups and government greed and we are now  in a place where no compromise is allowed and solutions are all or nothing.

Many of marchers are anti government activists, open border advocates, and bleeding hearts, and the same ones demanding that hispanic studies be taught and their culture respected. I don’t have a problem with that, ones roots are important, but it is a two way street and respect is earned not demanded. Respect this country, it’s laws and history and you just may get respect. Unfortunately the groups listed below don’t feel they have to respect their own county, The United States of America, and there  is where the problem  lies.

The Migrant Trail
Arizona Border Rights Foundation

 

A 75 mile walk from Sásabe, Sonora, MX to Tucson, AZThrough Sonoran Desert Brings Attention to Migrant Deaths

The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk.  We are a spiritually diverse, multi-cultural group who walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come.  We bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst.  Lastly, we walk as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples.

Press Conference

Monday, May 30, 2011

10:00 AM

317 W. 23rd Street

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, AZ-    On May 30, 2011, a diverse group of more than sixty individuals will begin a 75 mile walk to call attention to the human rights crisis occurring on the southern border. The eighth annual Migrant Trail: We Walk for Life is a joint endeavor of community groups and individuals from both sides of the border walking in solidarity with migrants to demand an end to the deaths in the desert.

“For the eighth year we stand together in solidarity with migrants and call for an end to the tragic deaths and division of communities along the U.S.-Mexico border,” says Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos.  “Thousands of men, women, and children have died due to border policies that have funneled them into the most hostile and desolate areas of the Sonoran desert.  This must stop.”

Since the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 6,000 men, women and children have lost their lives crossing the U.S./Mexico border.  As the summer approaches, and Arizona begins to experience triple-digit temperatures, the number of migrants encountering medical distress or death increases dramatically.  Many will die the horrible death of dehydration and exposure. These deaths, a direct result of U.S. border and immigration policies, must be prevented.

The Walk will begin Monday, May 30 at 2:00pm in Sásabe, Sonora.  Carpools will depart at 11am from Southside Presbyterian (317 W. 23rd Street).  Participants will arrive on Sunday, June 5th at 11:00am at Kennedy Park, Ramada #3, for a closing ceremony. The Migrant Trail is a non-violent event, and is free and open to the community.  Participants and organizers of the Migrant Trail call on all people of conscience to stand in solidarity with our migrant sisters and brothers.

“The Migrant Trail is an important spiritual witness to the challenging reality of our borderlands today,” says Dan Abbott of University Presbyterian Church in Tempe, Arizona.  “It is a moral imperative that we stand in solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters, demand humane border policies of our government, and call all people of conscience to take immediate action.”

Sponsors of the Migrant Trail: Coalición de Derechos Humanos, BorderLinks, Casa Maria, JPIC Office of the St. Barbara Province Francsiscans, Shalom Mennonite, Tucson Buddhist Meditation Center, Migrant Workers Solidarity Network (MWSN), Newman Center at UA, Green Valley/Saguarita Samaritans, Church of the Good Shepherd, No More Deaths- Tucson, REA Communications, Restoration Project, Humane Borders, St. John’s Episcopal Church of Mount Pleasant, Shalom House- Philadelphia, Mennonite Central Committee-US, Calpolli Teoxicalli, Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, AFSC Colorado, Principe de Paz Church, Café Justo, University Presbyterian Church, Tucson SOA Watch, No More Deaths- Phoenix, Southside Presbyterian Church, and Tucson Samaritans.

Migrant Trail Bears Witness to Human Rights Crisis:

The Migrant Trail

c/o Arizona Border Rights Foundation
P.O. Box 1286 Tucson, AZ 85702
Tel: 520.770.1373
migrant_trail@yahoo.com

www.derechoshumanosaz.net

Contact: Marisol Flores-Aguirre: 520-622-2190

Derechos Humanos: 520-770-1373

 

On this day we as Americans honor all of the brave men and women who have given the greatest sacrifice  to protect this country and the freedoms of it’s people. Memorial day is a nationally observed day and as a part of our American heritage it should be observed and respected with the deepest of reverence.

Mexican Ranchers must leave their land or be killed by the Cartels. Drug wars are rampant with indiscriminate shootings of innocent people. Kidnaping for ransom is now common place. Whole towns are cut off, looted and held hostage, with its people brutally murdered and dying of starvation.

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

A small town in Mexico bands together with machetes, sticks and a few guns taken from the corrupt police. They are no match for the well armed Cartels who also control the illegal lumber business. Arizona Daily Star These towns people cover their faces and stand defiant behind crude barriers blocking the roads and are determined to fight to the death in order to save their way of life.  The rapidly increasing power of the Cartels who rule by torture and violence is plaguing Mexico and it’s corrupt government. Local police and politicians are either on the take or intimidated by death are quitting or cashing in. The military, bought and paid for in many parts of the country, are used to escort drug shipments.

Covering their faces and taking to the streets, some brave citizens of Nogales Mexico march to demand an end the violence. Sadly the Mexican people wanting change are powerless and are putting their lives and the lives of their families at risk to make  such a bold statement. Nogales International

While our neighbors are crying out for help what are we doing here but arguing about immigration reform, tax dollars, votes and politics.  Sadly the right and left can only see their own agendas.  What are the activists doing to organize and really aid the Mexican people in Mexico where no one has any rights at all?  What are the conservatives doing besides flying the American flag and watching Fox News?

Shocking Photos of Violence along the United States / Mexican Border

Nazi Germany, Mexico, and Cuba, the list goes on and on where the people of a country have been suppressed and made powerless.  Here is a prime example of just how gun control works in favor of a corrupt government and organized crime. Thank God the writers of the US Constitution added the 2nd amendment so we as citizens can protect our selves, our families and our neighbors, who choose not to have firearms. You may think that it will never happen here but what if it did. With all the global fighting and destruction I would like to know that in the worst case, my grandchildren could go to the closet and dig out their grandfathers assault rifle, yes an assault rifle with a high capacity magazine, because that’s what it will take, and defend their town and their family. None of us ever think that the worst will happen but we still buy all kinds of insurance. Nice to have a little back up in the closet because we just can’t see into the future.

The United States Of America has the most liberal firearms laws on this planet and is the freest and the safest, but we have become a nation of bickerers.

Educated adults, college students, and hard workers, there are millions of Mexican people here in the United States who would love nothing more that to return to their country, rebuild and prosper in their own land with their families, but defenseless and with out help, death and destruction are their only rewards. So who will stop the violence?  Maybe recognizing it is the first step to a long overdue solution.

In a troubled area in the desert west of Tubac, border crime and violence continues to spill over into the US. Although border cities and towns are safer than they have ever been, the rugged terrain of the high Sonoan Desert is a hot bed of illegal activity. One would never know by the increased tourism in local businesses that not to far away, human and drug smuggling, rape, robbery and murder are on the incline while a turf war is brewing.

BP chasing Drug runners north of Nogales, Photo by Karl W Hoffman

A suspected drug smuggler, commonly called a” mule”  along with other smugglers in his group bring illegal drugs into the US, was reportedly ambushed Sunday by armed bandits. In a remote area west of I19 and 20 miles north of the border  near Aliso Springs Canyon. According to statements from one of the survivors made to Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department, One of the smugglers tried to run but was gunned down. Then the  bandits forced the survivors to burry the murdered mans body at gunpoint in exchange for their lives. According to Sheriff Estrada one of the alleged smugglers-turned-murder witness found a No More Deaths camp. One of many a so called humanitarian aid camps scattered through out the border region that aids illegal border crossers and criminal activate.

Several volunteers went to call 911 from an area that had cell service.

Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies along with Border Patrol Agents and searching the area for the body.

Updates Coming soon

Drug storage room, Nogales CBP Station, Photo by Karl W Hoffman

The environmental impact caused by illegal immigration, and the trash left behind or placed along the American/Mexico Border, is increasingly being found in areas that are more fragile and remote.

Border trash has gotten out of hand with more than 2000 tons of trash discarded anualy along the 370miles of the Arizona border. Illegal  immigration is directly  responsible for the discard of containers, clothing, vehicles, backpacks, hygiene and medical products,  and human waste not to mention food containers and water jugs, left by the 10s of thousands, on human smuggling trails by humanitarian groups. This trash left behind is creating an adverse impact on vegetation, wildlife,  natural erosion and causing water shed degradation.

In an attempt to draw attention to the trash the State of Arizona has established a website azbordertrash.gov for information and to seek volunteers to participate in cleanup efforts. The web site is funded by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Apprehensions of individuals by the U.S. Border Patrol as a result of illegal immigration vary every year. Current Border Patrol statistics indicate that about 110,000 border crossers will be captured during the current fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, and doesn’t count the many others who get through. The border crossers leave approximately six to eight pounds of trash in the desert during his or her journey. The cost of disposing of this trash is high for local communities. Landfill fees range from $37 to $49 per ton in Southern Arizona. These fees do not include costs for materials, equipment, labor and transportation for the collection and transfer of the trash to the landfill.

Characterizing the Impact

Accumulated border trash has been shown to affect human health, the environment and economic wellbeing. Impacts include:

• Strewn trash and piles
• Illegal trails and paths
• Erosion and watershed degradation
• Damaged infrastructure and property
• Loss of vegetation and wildlife
• Campfires and escaped fires
• Abandoned vehicles and bicycles
• Vandalism, graffiti and site damage (historical and archaeological)
• Occurrence of bio-hazardous waste

The Truth About Two Humanitarian Organizations

Several faith based humanitarian organizations in southern Arizona have joined forces. Their slogan is “Humanitarian Aid is never a Crime”. Funded by churches,

they recruit volunteers who venture into the deserts along the borders of America and Mexico to give life saving aid to illegal border crossers caught in an economical and political cross fire, or so they would like you to think. What is their real agenda? Are they really a subversive anti government cult like group of smugglers using the various churches to fund their illegal operation?

While there are many humanitarian groups and organizations involved in the border arena and doing very positive work both in the field and politically, helping people and raising awareness for immigration reform and change on both sides of the American/Mexican border. I would in no way want to cast a shadow on their work or create a stigmatism for the good they are achieving.

So lets take an in depth look at two particular groups, No More Deaths and the Samaritans. Many of these two organization’s key members go back decades to the earlier Sanctuary Movement of the 1980′s involving El Salvadorian political refugees whom the Regan administration refused to give asylum. They took the law into their own hands, and led by the Reverend John Fife (also involved in the 1960s university anti war demonstrations and riots), the Sanctuary Movement began at the South Side Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona. Its purpose was to smuggle undocumented immigrants from El Salvador in to the United States. Guerrilla fighters, rebels and criminals, who were fleeing to escape execution were included in this literal underground railroad, that smuggled illegal immigrants not just from El Salvador but it gathered immigrants along the way through Central America and Mexico. Then through a network that stretched all the way to Canada, it eventually provided a safe haven to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and involved over 500 churches and synagogues nationwide.  This movement would create a foothold for illegal immigrant families and provide a destination point for other family members and continue to attract illegal immigrants for another generation.

With out any screening process or controls over who was being smuggled into the United States, just one of the major adverse effects was a large very undesirable element that was relocated to our inner cities and formed the most notorious street gang in the history of our world. The Salvadorian gang MS13 (Mara Salvatrucha 13) is one of the most violently dangerous gangs and one of the most organized. This gang has grown to international proportions, with an estimated number of 70,000-gang members today, in the US alone and is a direct result of the Sanctuary Movement.

Including the arrest of the Reverend John Fife, eight activists where convicted on various federal charges in the 1990′s. Several years ago, the same individuals that were involved in the sanctuary movement resurfaced to form the groups No More Deaths and the Samaritan Patrol later to be called the Samaritans. These groups are now walking a fine line between humanitarian aid, which should not be a crime, and indiscriminate but organized smuggling, which is a crime even if you are a church. Considering the past and the present, it is of no surprise that contemporary government agencies are reluctant to work with groups that have such a subversive past and thrive on illegal activity and anti government agendas.

No More Deaths continues to operate out of the South Side Presbyterian Church in Tucson, but moves it’s meetings regularly to different church locations around Tucson. Day workers continue to gather  daily at the church parking lot, flagging down vehicles in an attempt to find day laboring work but it is becoming increasingly difficult and the risks are running higher.

Controlling the media was very important, so not only did they bring in their own international media teams sympathetic to their cause but they began carefully screening journalists who wanted to cover their work in the field and any that are approved, are assigned special media persons and given a false tour with no interaction with volunteers who have not been briffed or illegal migrants.  They also realized that right wing conservative news won’t criticize faith based humanitarian groups and left wing liberals are supportive of it with out asking to many questions. This puts government officials and politicians in an uneasy spot.  So with decades of experience No More Deaths and the Samaritan’s leaders who were no strangers to organizing anti government tactics, began their new agenda by first creating a cloud of false government persecution in which to operate under. First there is “Abuse Documentation” or stories they have heard or made up that will foster sympathy for their cause and open a can of worms for any government agency that takes to close a look at their activities. Playing this abuse documentation angle also keeps them very well funded, with large grants from the Unitarian Universalistic Funding Program and tens of thousands of tax free dollars from other churches and non profit activist groups under the disguise of the Social Justice Ministry. The term they like to use for their actions is “Civil Initiative”, nothing more than a gentle  for euphemism for revolutionary or anarchist.  To give this trump card an air of validity, they even published a book in

The Book Crossing the Line

September of 2008, “Crossing the Line” with over 100 pages of the most horrendous accusations, in the form of written accounts and affidavits, based solely on hearsay, against U.S. Border Patrol Agents working in the field and detention facilities that had never been visited. Down load PDF version of the book “Crossing the Line” This hearsay documentation was actually presented at Congressional briefing in Washington D.C., hosted by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). The U.S Border Patrol says that these allegations are false. Rep. Grialva has long been a supporter of No More Deaths and the Samaritan’s work as well as their cause. Now that his campaign is in trouble and the fact that they need his pull, No more deaths has issued an immediate call to action in support his campaign.”We cannot afford to lose his representation in congress” This is not only unethical but should cause their church tax exempt status to be reevaluated.

From: Nancy Myers <nmyers@igc.org>

Subject: Re: [NMD Local] Support Grijalva – His Reelection May Be At Risk!!

Date: October 13, 2010 5:01:31 PM MST

To: Hannah Hafter <hehafter@yahoo.com>, Gene and Sue Lefebvre <coregroup@nomoredeaths.org>

Reply-To: Nancy Myers <nmyers@igc.org>

 

 

Think of Raul as part of a cause or movement, not just a candidate.

Nancy

From: Hannah Hafter

Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 4:38 PM

To: coregroup@nomoredeaths.org

Subject: [NMD Local] Support Grijalva – His Reelection May Be At Risk!!

Hi everyone! This is a message from Brissia Perez, who has been active in No More Deaths in the past and is currently working on Grijalva’s re-election. Scary news, and they need us all! I don’t typically think No More Deaths should be a forum for specific candidates but Raul has done SO MUCH to support our work in particular, I would like to support him back – and we need him here in AZ. From Brissia: Raul’s district is in trouble and it is in trouble because he took a strong stand against 1070 to protect us. Multiple polls are showing him at either 2 point above or below Ruth McClung. We have Raul’s toughest race since 2002 on our hand. We cannot afford to lose his representation in congress. With only 3 weeks left we need all the people that Raul speaks up for to speak up for him–to fight for him. Just stop by our campaign office any day (452 S. Stone ave) and we’ll put you to work. Our immediate need and call to action is for TODAY, wednesday the 13th. Raul is debating Ruth McClung at the pima community college desert vista campus at 4:00pm, but before that, the tea party is having a rally to cheer on our opponent at 3:30. We need a lot of bodies to make noise and show Raul support before his debate and to counter the tea party efforts. We’re meeting there with signs at 3. Thanks everybody!

 

---

 

_______________________________________________
Coregroup mailing list
Coregroup@lists.nomoredeaths.org

In my photojournalistic capacity I have accompanied both the humanitarian organizations and the Border Patrol in the field, I have also toured and photographed these facilities during actual operation, and can honestly say from experience that they are clean, well maintained and not as described by the No More Deaths accusations. Many other accounts will collaborate on these findings.

No More Deaths then developed a very sophisticated system of high tech data collection. Gallon water jugs are put along migrant paths close to the border and marked withtheir own coded GPS coordinates.  Volunteer groups farther north pick up empty water bottles and record the GPS coordinates of where the water

bottles where found, along with the location where they were first set out, this comparative data is all entered into a custom computer-mapping program. There is now a very up to date record of major migrant traffic routes and collaborated with detailed field reports that are turned in at the end of each day by volunteer patrols. This should explain the adamancy for putting out literally tens of thousands of one-gallon water jugs. They claim that they also pick up water old water jugs, a nobel act of trash removal but in actuality they are refilling the ones picked up and putting them out again until they don’t come back. Water jugs are also placed in remote desert locations away from know illegal traffic routs, where advance information would be paramount to the preplanning of illegal activity.

No More Deaths is fully aware that the water they put out along the border region, is not just helping illegal migrants at the mercy of the cartels, but also available to criminals coming here for illicit activities, smugglers and drug runners. Controlling the water on the desert smuggling routs gives these two groups a great deal of power over illegal activity.

Expanding their operation while relying on long established connections throughout Mexico and Central America these groups have now expanded into

Mexico by renting an apartment in Nogales Mexico where key members can stay and work freely on their agendas while providing cell phone service for illegal activity and communication with humanitarian patrols on the U.S. side. NMDs has recently acquired two shelter locations in Nogales Mexico that will provide approximately 25 to 30 beds each and has set up a camp on the Mexico side of the Mariposa port of entry the sleeps 60-80 people.

Continuing their propaganda No More Deaths has developed a recruitment plan to attract student volunteers from around the world and charges them $20 per day, per volunteer, with detailed instructions on applying for school funds.  During college spring breaks as many as 150 students per week, donating $100 each will come to the border completely naive to any hidden agendas. Prior to arrival, students are given suggested reading on politically orientated topics related to the group’s core social ideology and their Social Justice Ministry.  They are then given several days of orientation to the oganizations own philosophies, including legal presentations on their rights in the field and preparations for confrontations with Border Patrol Agents. A field manual is given to them with numbers for 24 hr legal, medical, supervisor’s numbers, and a direct line to the Mexican Consulate. Unfortunately these students begin their border experience with a very biased attitude toward the US Government. Every member in the field carries a legally prepared note to present to any government authority that confronts them. The heading reads “Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime” and it states as follows:

To whom it may concern:  My name is______, I am a volunteer for the humanitarian organization No More Deaths, I am in the process of providing sealed jugs of water for persons traveling in the arid desert. I am engaged in this activity because I have a right and responsibility to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to those who are in danger of great bodily harm or death due to severe dehydration. Any further questions may be directed to my lawyers: Bill Walker (520-907-1291) Margo Cowan (520-850-0058)

Charging students to stay at camps set up by No More Deaths in the Coronado National Forest in April 2010 requires special permits. Continuing to disregard the law and the honor of this country (while flying the Mexican Flag over their camp), it should be of no surprise that they where under the watchful eye of the US Forest Service.

Continuing to establish a foothold on college campuses, the approach has been to strong-arm universities by digging into the backgrounds and practices of their business clients in an attempt to pressure universities (U of A included) to sever certain financial ties to corporations that do not have a code of conduct and standards consistent with No More Deaths alleged domestic and international labor and human rights standards. Pressure has also been directed toward university staff through the formation of various subversive student groups including, UA La Raza Studies’ Social Justice Education Project.

In 2008 NMD’s backed an effort by the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) to unionize a chain of Food City grocery stores here in Tucson. Their particular interest was to protect illegal workers who where being let go when found out. I shop at Food City along with other multi cultural families because of the low prices there. Food City, Bashas (a huge contributor to local food banks) and AJ’s have created a unique business plan where they can serve very diverse economic communities by offering price and quality levels that give food shopping opportunities to a boarder section of families in our area while reducing waste, compared to the all union food markets with high overhead and proportionate high prices with larger amounts of waste. Food City has even provided the public with a choice of two web sites, English or Spanish. Undermining their contributions and upsetting this plan affects the economic balance of many communities for no other purpose than selfishness, greed and hidden political agendas. I must ask how this can be considered a humanitarian act? A legal battle that Food City eventually won, cost them millions of dollars, forcing them to raise the price of all their products across the board, but no union representative etc, is allowed on the property for 5 years. NMDs, with no concern for consumer costs, are now organizing a boycott of Food City Markets.

Along with their own legal team, and branching off into Europe and the middle east, No More Deaths and the Samaritans are gaining power at an alarming rate by forming cozy alliances and collaborating with, politicians, and government officials. Recently a special investigator began to look into the actions of  No More Deaths and the Samaritans and was immediately transferred.  Other influential organizations such as the Sierra Club ,with their 1.3 million members, has provided information on NMDs with space on their website, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants  with No More Deaths members masquerading as official human rights observers.  A special link on NMDs website is provided for in depth alleged abuse documentation against United States Government agencies and employees but no verification from the submitter is required. In reality it merely becomes undocumented accusatory statements but to this group and its followers it becomes a cult like reality. This may seem harsh and in no way excuses the horrific reality of death in the desert, but let us keep in mind a very important fact, crimes in the desert arena on United States land such as rape, robbery and murder as well as those left behind to perish in the desert with out water, are committed by the victims own countrymen from Mexico, who they have either brought with them for hire or are here to profit off the actions of their illegal immigration actions.

Choosing Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge as their battleground for breaking the law under their own rationalization with the taxpayers footing the bill is justanother instance of their disregard for for the American system of government.  Based on the information above, these anti government groups should not be allowed to put water in any form in the Sornan Desert as the act is in reality not humanitarian aid but by all rights it may be considered treason. Considering the steadily escalating violence in Mexico that is spilling across the border, illegal migrants, who are now being guided by coyotes working for the cartels, smugglers and drug runners, criminals traversing the border to commit crimes in our communities, are all using the water and poses a serious risk to the citizens of the United States as well as a danger to people using the border lands for legal purposes, and creating stress on the wildlife and more litter on the land. The groups, known as No More Deaths and The Samaritans, have expanded their illegal operation into Mexico and increased their cross border communication through a network of cell phones, making them a threat to US security. Humanitarian groups and activist organizations should be doing all they can to discourage illegal immigration which will save migrant lives, so protective legislation can be passed to help families already here while implementing a guest worker plan.  The long-term effects of leaving water bottles and food is causing a false hope of making it across the desert and has contributed to the catastrophic rise in migrant deaths, this does more to harm chances for a comprehensive immigration reform which should be the major objective.

In these times of continuing threats of terrorist attracts, a neighboring country with a collapsing government ridden with drug violence and murder that is dangerously close to being run by war lords, the US government and the American people must stand ever vigilant to protect it’s self from subversive anti government groups.

We are in a new era where radical religious organizations are gaining political power and all to turning to different forms of  terrorism to make their messages heard, while trying to control governments.

Is this a more powerful and better organized sanctuary movement and a serious threat to national security?

Is the very survival of this country at stake?

Is there a point when Humanitarian Aid really does becomes a crime?

Karl W Hoffman

Documentary Film Producer

The Racism Card

Racism, just the sound of the word invokes gut wrenching feelings and congers visions of drastic behavior.  It terrifies politicians if they haven’t used it first, and brings businesses to their knees. As if it where some ominous black cloud, it also inhibits all rational communication.  So why do we use it so loosely?

I believe the history books have not been changed yet as to the out come of the Civil War, the North won. The reality is, that the Majority of Americans that fought in the war and many who gave their lives, was to end slavery and foster freedom for all.  It did take well over 100 years for this county to over come civil rights violations and in some parts of the country it took longer. Then, just when we as a country began to heal and make major strides toward equal opportunity in just about every avenue of the American dream, here comes the ugly word “Racism”.

Once the word is used, we as ordinary people have lost all hope of dialect.  The word seams to strip the dignity from the most passive of individuals leaving no other alternative but to communicate though a group of attorneys bleeding the entire system like a plague that will infect anyone who comes in contact because they are the only ones impervious to the effects of the word like some demon of democracy that only money will appease.

Playing the racism card seems to be the weapon of choice in the contemporary battles of win at all costs regardless of the collateral damage to people and communities.  It is used more and more in the immigration and border security issues when a side doesn’t get their way and wants to use the most drastic of insults that can be printed to prove an irresolute point. Well as my mother used to say “consider the source”

The racism card  seems to elevate the pompous leader or glory seeker to new heights of incitement.  It is always a crowed pleaser when there is nothing else so say and the risk of losing attention is high.

Lets take a trip to Arivaca a small border town on the Arizona/Mexico border in the wilderness of the high Sonoran Desert. Arivaca has a Saturday farmers market till noon on the main street, the only one that is paved, a community center with a world-class skateboard park built from selling tee shirts. There is a human resource center where meals are prepared daily, by volunteers, for those in need, and a community garden.

The people in Arivaca are compassionate with a deep respect for privacy yet ready to help one another while keeping an open mind to social differences. The border has a strong but different kind of patriotism developed by multi cultural camaraderie and cross border acceptance demonstrated in the day-to-day life, and the many community functions of this small peaceful border town, where the closest law enforcement is over 1 hour away.

Will we teach our children the art of racism?

I have had the good fortune to experience life here for almost 6 years. Amidst the invasion of government agencies, soldiers, humanitarian groups and hate groups a like, and organized crime, all mixed with the agony of migrant traffic and drug smuggling while at the mercy of the sensationalizing media.  This is a community that has no audience to play for as the world watches the border and immigration debacle unfold.

This past 4^th of July parade and celebration in Arivaca was the largest ever.  There where a few from out of town, but the majority of locals was the usual mixed bag of cowboys and vaqueros, retired folks, hippies and bikers, business owners, artist, musicians, professionals, and a few dubious characters. Some of the welcomed guests in the  parade where, the US Air Force Color Guard, The US Border Patrol Color Guard, Trico Electric, The Border Patrol Horse Patrol, Pima County Sheriffs Department and a politician. Arivaca people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and customs all donned the red white and blue to display their patriotism. How refreshing, that nowhere was even a murmur of racism.

The same phenomenon happens through out the year when individual celebrations occur such as Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, The Day of the Dead, Halloween and the Folkloric Festival not mention the many benefits and functions at the Arivaca Community Center. Every one joins in with the same zeal and respect for one another and their customs and culture.

Learning from this small independent community might just be a lesson the rest of this country could use.