A humanitarian aid organization collected more than 7,000 gallons of water and more than 3,000 pairs of socks in a donation drive that ended Saturday.
Saturday was the fourth and final drive in No More Deaths’ Agua-ton summer fundraiser.
Volunteers will take the collected items to the southern Arizona desert in an effort to bring an end to death and suffering of people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, said volunteer Jasmin Alexander.
At least 148 migrants have died trying to cross the border into southern Arizona since October, according to the No More Deaths’ Web site. Extreme temperatures contribute to these numbers, said Alexander, a graduate student in the School of Social Work.
Alexander said she discovered No More Deaths in the summer of 2006, while taking a social justice class taught by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix.
The class required students to write a research paper on a social justice organization, and Alexander chose a No More Deaths-supported migrant center in Agua Prieta, a border town adjacent to Douglas, Ariz.
Alexander then waited two years for an internship with the group, which finished this summer. She is now volunteering for No More Deaths and said she hopes to eventually practice immigration law.
“We provide humanitarian aid to individuals in the desert, and it’s important because we have a direct impact and sometimes we’re even saving people’s lives,” Alexander said.
The organization garnered national attention in the summer of 2005, when two No More Deaths volunteers were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol for transporting three illegal immigrants from Arivaca, about 10 miles north of the border, to Tucson for medical attention.
The volunteers were charged with transporting and conspiring to transport illegal immigrants, but a judge later dismissed the charges, according to news reports.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
David Heppler was safety and security coordinator for the Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal immigration group.
He left the Minuteman Project in 2005 and formed Arizona Citizens for Community Enforcement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting communities and law enforcement.
Heppler said No More Deaths is a double-edged sword.
“It’s kind of like me breaking into your neighbor’s house and you giving me the keys to do it. It’s still a crime,” Heppler said. “Laws were designed to be enforced. You certainly can’t fault them for saving people’s lives, but you can fault them for facilitating a crime.”
No More Deaths volunteer Sarah Brooks, a graduate student in the School of Social Work at ASU West, said saving people’s lives takes precedence.
“You can argue all you want about whether people should be crossing the border and whether it is a strain on our economy,” Brooks said. “You can argue about the issues all day, but if you see people dying you go out and try to stop it.”
Heppler said that organizations like No More Deaths have come about because of a lack of law enforcement from the government.
He said both sides need to compromise in order for the immigration conflict to be resolved. Lack of compromise, he said, is why he decided to leave the Minutemen.
“We should enforce what we have and if that doesn’t work, then reform the policy,” Heppler said.
“There’s no middle ground. We need to work together. It would be better if both sides could sit down and work the issues out.”
Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu
