Article of interest:

NEW MEXICO: A MASS FOR BORDER CROSSERS About 400 people separated by a chain-link fence that divides Mexico and the United States gathered for a Mass to remember migrants who died trying to cross the border. Roman Catholic bishops from New Mexico, Texas and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico led the sixth Day of the Dead Mass at the border between Anapra, a poor Ciudad Juárez neighborhood, and Sunland Park, N.M. By the Border Patrol's count, 1,954 people have died crossing the border since October 1998. (Associated Press, 11/3/04)

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My comment:

It is predicted that immigration reforms, desired by Bush and Fox but put on hold after 9/11, are still unlikely to go forward due to the newly strengthened Republican conservative congressional majority, and that in fact more restrictionism is in the works.  Given Mexican economics, NAFTA, and climate change, it strikes me as likely that the situation at and near the border will become more dire for migrants in future.  As you know, the death rate escalated sharply after the extensions of fencing near Tijuana, etc. and the beefing up of the Border Patrol in the mid and late 1990s....and more such measures are now being called for by the Republican leadership.

If any of you would like to know more about, or contribute to, the NoMoreDeaths movement (affiliated with Christian Peacemakers) which has teams in Arizona and elsewhere giving material assistance (food, water, clothing) to migrants found lost or remotely walking in the SW desert after being abandoned by their coyotes, please let me know.  This winter I hope to collect and facilitate donations for the "migrant packs" (bags of simple supplies) that the NoMoreDeaths people provide.

Tina.castanares@...