wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] PDA sends $54,000 to the desert

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Note #8274 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04283
June 11, 2004

PDA sends $54,000 to the desert

Grant will support border ministry work and medical aid camps

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has sent $54,000 to the
Presbytery of de Cristo to assist border ministry programs that provide
humanitarian and spiritual assistance to migrants along the Arizona-Mexico
border.

	Of the money - taken from designated disaster funds - $35,000 will be
evenly divided among seven organizations whose programs range from helping
stranded border crossers with medical assistance to providing meals, beds and
legal advice.

	The seven ministries will receive $5,000 each, according to Stan
Hankins, the PDA's associate for U.S. disaster response.

	Hankins said the remaining $19,000 is earmarked for a recently
launched initiative - by a group called "No More Deaths" - that's putting
around-the-clock medical aid camps in the desert to assist undocumented
migrants crossing the border into Arizona from Mexico.

	The goal of the camps is to stop an escalating death toll of
undocumented border crossers attempting to cross the Mexican-border on foot
through Arizona's punishing desert terrain.

	The grants were prompted by an overture approved by last year's 215th
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) addressing the crisis of
migrant worker deaths in the borderlands.

	"The presbytery just really appreciates the funds that have come from
the denomination because the crisis is actually getting worse," said the Rev.
Lee Sankey, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of de Cristo. "With the
heat that we've had in the last week there are many more deaths, many more
bodies being found."

	PDA coordinates the PC(USA)'s disaster-response operations in the
United States and around the world. De Cristo presbytery represents 30
Presbyterian churches in southern Arizona and western New Mexico.

	The seven organizations sharing in the grant:

	* Border Action Network, Tucson, AZ - Engaged in efforts to end
violence being committed against immigrants by private individuals and
groups.

	*  Casa San Juan, Tucson, AZ - Provides a range of services for
qualifying immigrants and refugees who seek a revised immigration status.

	*  Companeros en Mision, Nogales, AZ - Working to establish churches
in Sonora, Mexico; participating in holistic evangelism and strengthening
reciprocal and mutual ministries between the National Presbyterian Church of
Mexico and the PC(USA).

	*  Healing Borders, Douglas, AZ - Delivers blankets, clothes and
other necessities to migrants and their families. Organizes clean-up trips
into desert borderlands.

	*  Humane Borders, Tucson, AZ - Comprised of more than 60 member
organizations that include congregations, denominational agencies, human
rights organizations, immigration legal assistance organizations, and
businesses stretching from California to Texas. Humane Borders maintains more
than 40 water stations in the Arizona desert.

	*  Migrant Center, Altar, Mexico - Provides meals, beds, legal advice
and pastoral accompaniment to thousands of migrants passing through the small
community, which has become a popular gathering point for migrants crossing
the border into Arizona.

	*  Samaritan Patrol, Tucson, AZ - Renders humanitarian assistance in
areas of southern Arizona where Humane Borders has been denied access.

	In addition to the grant announced last month, PDA provided the same
seven ministries with $10,000 through the presbytery in December.

	"PDA recognizes the serious nature of the border crisis and is
thankful for the opportunity to partner with these ministries to help
minimize the loss of life this summer," Hankins said.

	Meanwhile, the No More Deaths medical aid stations - or "Arks of the
Covenant" as they are known - have already started providing water, food and
medical assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to illegal immigrants
crossing into Arizona from Mexico.

	The first of three camps planned for the summer opened in Arivaca,
AZ, on May 31. A ceremony, which included strong Presbyterian participation,
was held at the remote camp site outside Tucson, about 20 miles from the U.S.
border with Mexico.

	The other Arks of the Covenant desert camps, which are expected to
open this month, will be situated near the Arizona border communities of
Douglas and Why.

	The Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol, which covers much of Arizona,
reported 139 deaths in the desert for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
Since then the agency has documented 84 people who have died crossing the
border since the new fiscal year began Oct. 1.

	The Border Patrol says some 2,000 migrants including women and
children have died crossing the southwest border since 1998 - many of them
because of dehydration.

	Last year's General Assembly overture addressing the increased number
of dying migrant workers along the borderlands, stressed the biblical lesson
of welcoming strangers.

	Submitted by the Presbytery of de Cristo, the overture calls on PDA
to be in relationship with congregations and middle governing bodies in the
borderlands to determine appropriate ministries and assistance for migrants
facing life-threatening situations.

	It also called for presbyteries and synods in the borderlands to
consult in order to initiate and support ministries that meet the spiritual
and physical needs of migrants in crisis.

	The overture called on the PC(USA) to declare its opposition to the
1994 federal border policy called "Operation Gatekeeper," consisting of
blocking traditional migration routes through urban areas from San Diego, CA,
to Brownsville, TX.

	The creators of the border blockade strategy "badly miscalculated in
assuming that migrants would not attempt to use more treacherous crossing
routes," the overture said.

	It said that different studies confirm that the new policy has pushed
migrants into dangerous situations that have led to significant increases in
deaths from hypothermia, dehydration and other environmental causes.

	The blockade policy has also led to the emergence of organized and
predatory smuggling networks," the overture says, "which frequently abandon
migrants and extort money from their families."

	In accordance with the overture, PDA helped plan a consultation in
April with middle governing body representatives and border ministry leaders
to organize efforts in reducing the number of deaths along the borderlands.

	 PDA is also working with presbyteries and synods along the border to
plan a national Presbyterian gathering in November surrounding the migrant
worker crisis. Still in the planning stages, the hope is to bring people
together from around the nation to focus on issues of immigration, migrant
deaths and border policies, Hankins said.

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