Migrant Trail Bears Witness
to Human Rights Crisis
Tucson, AZ- On May
25, 2009, a diverse group of individuals will begin a 75 mile walk to call
attention to the human rights crisis occurring on the southern border. The
sixth 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.
Sponsors include the Migrant Trail Walk Committee, Coalición
de Derechos Humanos, BorderLinks, Mennonite Central Committee US, Catholic
Relief Services – Mexico Program, No More Deaths – Phoenix and Tucson, 8th
Day Center for Justice, Coloradans for Immigrants Rights, Frontera de Cristo,
Humane Borders, American Friends Service Committee, JPIC Office of the St.
Barbara Province Franciscans, Shalom Mennonite Fellowship, Casa Maria, and
Church of the Good Shepherd.
“For the sixth year we stand together in solidarity with
migrants in our call for action to prevent the tragic deaths and division of
communities along the U.S.-Mexico border,” says Tom Kowal of AFSC
Colorado. “Thousands of men, women, and
children have died due to failed border militarization tactics and unjust
immigration and international economic policies. This must stop.”
Since the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 5,000 men,
women and children have lost their lives crossing the U.S./Mexico border. As the
summer approaches, and Arizona is
already seeing triple-digit temperatures, the number of migrants dying in the
desert will begin to increase dramatically. Many will die the horrible death of
dehydration and exposure. These
deaths, a direct result of failed and flawed border and immigration policies,
must be prevented.
The Walk will begin Monday, May 25 at 2:00pm in Sásabe,
Sonora. Carpools will depart at 11am from
Southside Presbyterian (317 W. 23rd Street). Walkers will arrive on Sunday, May
31st
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 Brother David Buer, a
Franciscan brother serving in Tucson. “It
is a moral imperative that we embrace our desperate migrant brothers and
sisters with more humane policies and action.”
