Our Backyard Has Become A Graveyard: Saving Lives On The U.S.-Mexico Border
Residents of Arivaca, Arizona, are stepping in to offer humanitarian aid to desperate people crossing from Mexico.
By Louise Roug
10/26/2017 05:46 am ET Updated 34 minutes ago
ARIVACA, Ariz. – When Leesa Jacobson first moved to this small town on the Arizona border with Mexico, she feared her storefront offices might get firebombed.
In the five years since, she has received anonymous hate letters. Occasionally, people driving by will yell at her or flip her off. Recently, a well-known militia leader moved to the community, dredging up dark memories of a killing of a local resident and his 9-year-old daughter.
But Jacobson, a former librarian, is undeterred. With a group of fellow-retirees, she tries to prevent death and suffering in the borderlands around Arivaca, a community of about 695 people in southern Arizona
Fewer people seem to be trying to cross the border today than in years past ― the number of people apprehended at the U.S. border has dropped to the lowest level in 50 years. Despite this, the number of deaths has remained fairly constant, with a recent uptick. More people died on the border in the first seven months of 2017 compared with the first seven months of 2016, according to the United Nations’ migration agency.
More:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/saving-lives-us-mexico-border_us_59f097b2e4b0cf6334a04137?section=us_theworldpost
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016195293