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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
7/18/2012
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Last year as part of a project with the school I work at we took a day trip with the Border Angels. It is somewhat related to ABDSP since many of the undocumented travelers pass thru ABDSP and and some of the various humanitarian agencies provide water drops for thirsty desert travelers, undocumented or not, I am sure you have all seen the blue or white water barrels within the park. This post is not about advocating for or against immigration rights, only some photos and story of my visit with the group. You can learn more about the Border Angels on their website http://www.borderangels.org/
We first met at their headquarters in La Mesa (an older church) and then drove caravan style out to Myer Creek which would be our first stop. Enrique Morones spoke about the undocumented immigrants and the many stories that accompany them. Our first stop of the day was to visit Myer Creek and drop off some water jugs. This is a highly used area by the undocumented immigrants.
As we placed water jugs in the creek we also found jugs from other groups, one such group is the Social Justice organization.
Other groups exist that feel the opposite about undocumented immigrants and instead of leaving water will destroy the water jugs by puncturing them with knives and such. Enrique indicated one such organization is the Minutemen http://sandiegominutemen.com/sdmm/index.php.
Our next stop was a graveyard in Holtville. Enrique talks about the unmarked graves from either undocumented persons who have died attempting to cross the border or other unfortunate souls found in the desert. There were over 600 sites at the time of our visit.
One of the group placing a hand made cross on the grave site
Most of the grave sites will get a John or Jane Doe brick for a headstone
No Olvidados, "Not Forgotten"
Our next stop was the physical and political "border" that has divided not just "Mexicans" and "Americans" but also the indigenous people of the Kumeyaay descent. Ironically I think I was the only person who noticed the boulder with several morteros and pottery on the ground next to it as we walked towards the fence.
If you have never stopped to check out the fence you should, it is kinda interesting. Some sections are large enough to allow a slim person to slip thru and other sections are solid. My understanding is that the numbers painted on the fence allow the Border Patrol to quickly report a trouble area, for example they call in a problem at "631" and they know exactly where section 631 is. Some of the metal used for the fence is scrap from the Vietnam war aircraft landing strips.
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I should also note that the high temps for the day we visited was 116, it was hot.
Anyway that's it..thought maybe some of you would enjoy seeing a different aspect of what happens in the desert.
Daren
<em>edited by dsefcik on 7/18/2012</em>
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
7/19/2012
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Great documentary Daren.
That fence is crazy. I didn't realize you could slip through it.
Is that the fence near Jacumba?
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
7/19/2012
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surfponto wrote:
That fence is crazy. I didn't realize you could slip through it.
Is that the fence near Jacumba?
Yes, just turn south on the dirt road west of the library/park...can't miss it. When you park and walk out, look for the boulder with morteros, it is almost obscured by the surrounding modernization.
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ziphius Posts: 911
7/20/2012
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Nice report Daren. Who is responsible for the big blue water barrels along S-2 ? After I read that the high temp was 116 on the day you went to the border, I couldn't help but noticing how many people were NOT wearing sun hats. But, they are young, immortal.  - Jim
<em>edited by ziphius on 7/20/2012</em>
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
7/20/2012
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ziphius wrote:
Nice report Daren. Who is responsible for the big blue water barrels along S-2 ? After I read that the high temp was 116 on the day you went to the border, I couldn't help but noticing how many people were NOT wearing sun hats. But, they are young, immortal. - Jim
edited by ziphius on 7/20/2012
I know these guys do it http://www.desertwater.org/
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
7/21/2012
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Apparently the Border Patrol have been seen destroying some water jugs also.
http://www.10news.com/news/31291349/detail.html
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
7/21/2012
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That is pretty messed up 
dsefcik wrote:
Apparently the Border Patrol have been seen destroying some water jugs also.
http://www.10news.com/news/31291349/detail.html
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
7/21/2012
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ziphius wrote:
After I read that the high temp was 116 on the day you went to the border, I couldn't help but noticing how many people were NOT wearing sun hats. But, they are young, immortal.
Several of them had problems with the heat, the poor young girl holding on to the border fence looking down had thrown up a couple of times and spent a lot of the time in the car with the A/C running.
Put your mindset on how do the undocumented immigrants pass thru that rough terrain in extreme heat with little supplies?
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rockhopper Posts: 668
7/23/2012
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All's I know is when I tried to cross from Chile into Argentina, I was greated with machine gun toating army guards searching my luggage asking for my "papers", which I had.
Minor delay, no problem , on my way.
All these fatalities could be avoided simply by securing a proper travel visa or passport. Those souls are paying thousands to be dumped on the border. Sad just sad.
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borrego Posts: 18
9/30/2012
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rockhopper wrote:
All's I know is when I tried to cross from Chile into Argentina, I was greated with machine gun toating army guards searching my luggage asking for my "papers", which I had.
Minor delay, no problem , on my way.
All these fatalities could be avoided simply by securing a proper travel visa or passport. Those souls are paying thousands to be dumped on the border. Sad just sad.
Well said RH. I don't recall getting any love from the Dutch authorities when I had lost my passport and tried to enter Holland. Regardless of one's opinion of this issue (and who would be for allowing illegal entry into any country anyway) it is just a ridiculous situation in so many ways. a) They are criminals as soon as they set foot across the border b) don't they do any research as to where they're travelling? c) I've read that they hear about this angel supplied water and are encouraged by it (maybe if they knew there was actually no water they wouldn't bother coming and hence, not die?) But yes, sad it is, sorry to see any useless deaths under any conditions.....
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