SAN DIEGO — Headed into what may be the hottest weekend of the year so far; it is an extremely dangerous time for those trying to cross the border secretly into the United States.
There are miles and miles of rugged, desolate terrain, the blazing sun will be beating down, and the U. S. Border Patrol is on constant alert. Some will make it, some won't.
Laura Hunter is president of Water Station, based in San Diego; which deposits bottles of water inside barrels along migrant trails; flags are hoisted nearby to attract the attention of anyone needing hydration in the desert. "We are worried, of course; people might die and we don't even know," Hunter said.
She is empathetic about their plight. "People are desperate to see their families, find a job, to run away from violence. They don't come because everybody's gonna welcome them; they come because they're desperate."
Those water stations have saved countless lives over the years; it's quieter now. Her husband, John Hunter, founded the Water Station program decades ago. "Back in the day, we had 340 stations; we ran every single week. Now the deaths have come down. They were about 30 or 40 a year in our sector, now they're about 3 or 4. We run about 50 stations at this point," he said.
He now only goes out about once a month.
Besides the humanitarian effort we've witnessed, there is political pressure being applied.
Benjamin Prado of American Friends Service Committee is the project coordinator for a U.S./Mexico border program. "I think it is important to communicate to our lawmakers that this border strategy is a failed strategy; a deadly strategy; and re-direct some of those resources to make sure that people can cross safely without having to cross mountains and deserts."
Driving home that point, there is a picture on the Water Station Facebook page that shows wooden crosses marking the deaths of too many people on the journey north.
Laura Hunter said, "We don't care if they get caught, they get deported; we just don't want them to die."
She takes all this to heart; deeply. "This is not about immigration, it's about life and death! People need to survive!"
Their next deployment of water bottles will be on the last Saturday of July.
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