Humanitarian Groups Open Border Camps

[Judi Lynn]

May 29, 3:06 AM EDT

Humanitarian Groups Open Border Camps

By MICHELLE ROBERTS RUSHLO
Associated Press Writer


PHOENIX (AP) -- Greeted by rocky terrain and triple-digit temperatures, scores of illegal immigrants die as they cross into the United States along the Arizona border this time of year. In hopes of saving some of them, churches and humanitarian groups are launching around-the-clock desert camps to provide emergency water and medical help. The first camp opens Monday near Arivaca in southeastern Arizona.

The camps, dubbed "Arks of the Covenant," are designed to be places of sanctuary "with the pure intention of reducing the number of deaths," said the Rev. Sue Westfall, co-pastor of St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Tucson.

Between October 2002 and September 2003, the end of the federal fiscal year, 139 people died trying to cross into the United States in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. Most died from the effects of heat or cold, said Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame.

The Tucson Sector, which covers most of the Arizona border, has become one of the busiest crossing points along the U.S.-Mexico border because enforcement has made it more difficult to cross in other places.
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The barb-wired international border separates a group of Mexican nationals resting at a temporary shelter in Sonora, Mexico from San Miguel, Ariz., May 5, 2004. The group abandoned their trek across the Southwestern desert before crossing the border into the United States. Scores of illegal immigrants die crossing the Arizona desert each year from injuries, dehydration and from getting lost. A group of churches and humanitarion groups are launching around the clock desert camps called "Arks of the covenant" to provide emergency water and medical supplies to migrants. The first camp is to open Monday, May 31, 2004 near Arivaca, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)