somebody got picked up here probably by
border patrol but these are these are
clothes that they were probably carrying
with them to change into
for migrants to leave their whole life
behind
they have to be pretty desperate
they're facing hunger they're facing
poverty they're facing violence
they get to the u.s border and they have
to come across a desert area where it's
a very rough terrain
there's rattlesnakes poisonous insects
it's just very rough and scary out there
tucson samaritans is a group that is
working to save migrant lives
our presence in the desert is healing
it's healing the divide it's healing the
backlash that the migrants are facing as
they come through
[Music]
hey
i'm a first-generation mexican american
my mother was born in the state of
tamaulipas she came across when she was
around 12 years old
she's now a u.s citizen and i'm very
proud of her
the work that i do as a samaritan is
very meaningful to me because the
stories that i hear from the migrants
coming across resonates with my
background
you just grab that you got that oh
that's heavy
i cannot see a human being laying out
there and dying
i have to do something
it's 12 miles from here to here
and we'll be in this south of here in
this area
we patrol the southern arizona desert
south of tucson all the way down to the
mexican border
these are migrants that are coming from
central and south america mostly
they're traveling in groups of anywhere
from two or three persons up to lately
in the hundreds do we have everything
that we needed
first aid kit water socks
i think that's everything we have all
covered okay
the trips are done daily
distant samaritans carry food water and
basic medical supplies
we do an assessment when we find people
and figure out what their needs are
i was thinking of putting a gallon in my
backpack and carrying it so i can have
my hands free i'll put this on
okay first aid kit
it's very difficult because we're not
allowed to pick up migrants
it is against the law to transport
anybody
[Music]
when we go out and walk the trails we
look for signs of activity
yeah people are stopping here to rest or
to get picked up or something or
dropping stuff
i was just checking to see if there was
any
any other personal stuff
because sometimes they dropped ids or
cards
this one's been cleaned out
we find clothing we find water bottles
food wrappings we find personal things
it's it's pretty is it pretty cold
yeah it's not yeah it hasn't been
sitting there long no
those are fresh gallon jugs
you can tell when they're old and when
they're brand new that somebody just
dropped them
we find a trail that we know is active
where people are coming through
and we set gallons of water there we
know that they are not able to carry
enough water all the way across the area
that they have to walk
let's see if there's water in it yeah
it's got enough water
i'm gonna see if you feel me
this is a humane borders water station
humane borders was started a couple of
years before samaritans when it was
decided that even though these water
stations were being set along
known trails there was still people
dying very close to where the where the
water barrels were
we decided that we needed to do more
than that and that's how samaritans was
was born
the work that we're doing as a group
doesn't see that there's borders that
there's a division among humanity
we see each other as brothers and
sisters
there's no separation of what color what
race what nationality
we're all humans in this world
we've lost a lot of that caring for each
other people are
looking at life like it's worthless
i just turned 71 i've been doing this
for the past 17 years
and
my thing is i want to help as much as i
can
there's so many things against them
already that anything i can do
to alleviate their suffering is worth it
if i can help save one life that's worth
it to me
[Music]
you