Fifth 75 mile migrant trail walk for life next week

Support the walk, and humane US immigration policy reform

TUCSON -- On Monday, May 26, for the fifth year in a row, a diverse group of people will begin a 75 mile walk to call attention to the human rights crisis that is occurring on our borders. We walk in solidarity with migrants and we demand an end to the deaths in the desert.

The Walk will begin Monday, May 26 in Sásabe, Sonora, Mexico, and arrive at Kennedy Park in southwest Tucson on Sunday, June 1st for a closing ceremony.

"I'm a Chicana, and my people are risking their lives for a chance of a better tomorrow," says Nancy Rivera from Mennonite Central Committee. "As a church worker, the Migrant Trail is an opportunity to walk in solidarity with my marginalized brothers and sisters, so that eventually the deaths will cease."

Since the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 5,000 migrants have lost their lives crossing the U.S./México border. As the summer approaches, the number of migrants dying in the desert will begin to increase dramatically, and 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 Migrant Trail is an important spiritual witness to the challenging reality of our borderlands today," says Brother David Buer, a Franciscan friar serving the San Xavier Mission in Tucson. "It is a moral imperative that we embrace our desperate migrant brothers and sisters with more humane policies and action."

The Migrant Trail: We walk for Life is a joint endeavor of community groups and individuals from both sides of the border, including the Migrant Trail Walk Committee, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, BorderLinks, West Coast Mennonite Central Committee, Catholic Relief Services--Mexico Program, No More Deaths--Phoenix, No More Deaths--Tucson, 8th Day Center for Justice, Coloradans for Immigrants Rights, Frontera de Cristo, Humane Borders, American Friends Service Committee--Tucson, JPIC Office of the St. Barbara Province Franciscans, Casa Maria, SOA Tucson, Witness for Peace--México, Shalom Mennonite Fellowship, and Church of the Good Shepherd.

Participants and organizers of the Migrant Trail call on all people of conscience to stand in solidarity with our migrant sisters and brothers. More info.

- adapted from CDH