Humanitarian group works with Border Patrol

By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun

TUCSON — U.S. Border Patrol Agent Sam Lucio stood short and stout before a group of 50 volunteers who will be working in the desert this summer.

No More Deaths, a faith-based coalition that works to save migrant lives on the U.S.-Mexico border, will host a Border Patrol agent at every training session this year. Volunteers patrol the Arizona desert searching for migrants in need of food, water and medical aid.

“We don’t want to see anyone die out there either,” said Agent Lucio, a field operations officer in the Tucson sector, at the June 11 training.

While No More Deaths maintains that a militarized border drives illegal immigrants into deadly desert regions, it also recognizes the need to work with the Border Patrol to save lives.

“You give up your point of view to a certain extent,” said Margo Cowan, a founding member of the group and a parishioner at St. Margaret Parish. “We’re coming here for one reason: to save lives and relieve suffering.”

Last year, the Border Patrol arrested two No More Deaths volunteers attempting to evacuate illegal immigrants. No More Deaths maintains the migrants were in medical distress and the volunteers were trying to save their lives.

The Border Patrol charged the two volunteers with transporting illegal immigrants in furtherance of their immigration.

Andy Silverman, a No More Deaths member and a lawyer who gave a legal presentation at the training, said the group and the Border Patrol have a disagreement on what “furtherance” means.

The group maintains that evacuating illegal immigrants in medical distress to a hospital is not “furtherance,” while the Border Patrol believes it is.

“Please do not transport illegal aliens,” said Officer Laura Reed, U.S. Border Patrol spokeswoman for the Tucson sector, adding that the term “alien” is a legal one and not meant to be derogatory.

Agent Lucio also discouraged the volunteers from even letting a migrant sit in a stationed car.

Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas has been instrumental in mediating relations between the Border Patrol and No More Deaths, the group said.

“I hoped to encourage dialogue between Samaritan groups like No More Deaths and the leadership of the Border Patrol because I firmly believe that familiarity does not breed contempt but understanding,” Bishop Kicanas said. “We need understanding.”

The bishop said he’s attended several immigration-related meetings between Arizona faith groups and government officials.

“There are some who believe that Samaritan groups are trying to break the law and bleed people illegally into our society. Others are convinced that the Border Patrol is only interested in apprehension and lacks concern for the hardship and distress of migrants,” the bishop said. “Neither of these statements have I found to be true.”

Bishop Kicanas trusts the humanitarian groups’ intentions and believes “that Border Patrol, while responsible to protect our borders, wants to do that in a humane and caring way, especially trying to keep people from dying in the desert.”

“I encouraged this dialogue out of the conviction that together we could do more to prevent deaths than at odds with one another,” the bishop said.

No More Deaths recently drafted and signed a “letter of agreement” that changes the way the group operates. The letter prescribes particular steps to be taken by volunteers when assisting migrants they find in the desert.

The letter repeatedly advises volunteers to call the Border Patrol when coming across immigrants in distress. It also calls for a Tucson sector agent to attend No More Deaths training meetings.

“We believe that if we follow this agreement, no one will be arrested,” Silverman said during his legal presentation.

While the letter is meant to be an agreement between No More Deaths and the Border Patrol, the government agency has not signed the letter.

“It’s been a long, drawn-out process, but it’s still in a draft stage,” Officer Reed said. “The ball is in Border Patrol’s court.”

No More Deaths is carrying out the agreement with or without the Border Patrol signature and believes it will foster greater understanding.

“We have to do everything we can to make this a partnership,” Cowan from No More Deaths said. “Our job is to not break last years’ record of deaths.”