Hello from Casa Alitas and Tucson (fast becoming my favorite city)! It’s been a very full and rewarding week, and now that I’ve settled into what might be called a routine, it’s time to come home. I will have been here a month as of Wednesday, November 17 and I admit to a longing to see friends and family (in person), walking in the arboretum, and sleeping in my own bed. The week+ has been filled with many hours at talking with folks at Casa Alitas, visits to a number of new places and some old favorites, with some wonderful dinners and a trip to wine country thrown in the mix.

The number of people arriving at Casa Alitas in the last two weeks has exploded, meaning that 100-125 people arriving per day is now the norm. No one that I’ve talked with has an explanation of why the increase and I’ve decided that this fits into the description of so many things that happen on the border. There’s a randomness to almost everything. Especially notable are things that dramatically effect the future of the lives of a person or family. For example, there are certain border patrol, ICE officers, and judges whose names are recognized for their mistreatment and “questionable” decisions. There are others for whom what they do on a daily basis is just doing their job, shuffling people through lines and filling out forms.

As you know, the people we see at Casa Alitas are those who have been on the receiving end of so many seemingly random decisions of so many. We are there to welcome them. They are so relieved at seeing a welcome face and hearing kind words. As I talk with them, it’s apparent that they are not aware of the challenges that await them as they take their next steps in the broken immigration process of the United States. For me, it’s a joy to share these moments of gratitude with them, providing food and clothing, and sometimes a bit of a geography lesson as they figure out where in the United States (other than Miami) their sponsor actually lives. I assure you that no one knows where Wisconsin is (near Chicago?) and the first time they may have seen the name is on my T-shirt.

The majority of singles that arrive at Casa Alitas continue to be from Cuba and Venezuela. Some of them appear to be well-heeled, as evidenced by how they are dressed and the fact that they arrived via flights from Mexico City, Caracas, or Cancun. I don’t mean to imply that they didn’t save for years to afford these flights. However, their transport here stands in sharp contrast to those who have arrived via caravan, long hauls via van, or walking in the desert.

Going rate for a person arriving from Guatemala is $10,000 per person, paid to a willing coyote who drops them off miles from the Mexico border. As they near the border, they are picked up by Border Patrol or ICE, taken to a U.S. border location where ID stats are taken, then some are shipped back across the Mexican border while others (after being stripped of passports and belongings) are permitted to enter the U.S. This is where the randomness comes in. As you probably assume correctly, it’s the singles and families arriving from the Central American countries (the triangle) that have the least possibility of making it to the doors of Casa Alitas.

It was a fascinating day to travel to a welcome center on the other side of the border, Casa de Esperanza (House of Hope), in Sasabe, MX. Sasabe in on the border almost directly south of Tucson. The Casa de Esperanza is a a former small restaurant that is charged a friendly rental fee of $30/mo that has been transformed into the likes of a community center. “Esperanza” provides free telephone, food and clothing to migrants who, as Dora (the owner) describes it, have been “picked up, thrown into cages, then dumped across the border” back into Mexico. The Mexican National Guard brings the migrants to Casa de Esperanza. After a short stay, the migrants go to the main plaza of the town located a few blocks away, where coyotes sit in vans to ask for payment to take them back to their home country. Many become indentured through this process. Casa de Esperanza does fund raising to help pay for transportation to take people to Guatemala. The day I was there we spent hanging up donated clothes (some of which had made their way from Casa Alitas) and sitting with a small group of women planning their Thanksgiving and Christmas activities. The group included the mayor, two social workers, the cook, and us.

It was as interesting getting to Casa de Esperanza as it was being there. I was a bit concerned about crossing the border, even though I was traveling with people who pass through the border nearly every day. They know the names of many of the Border Patrol officers that stop or wave you through the border crossing – we were waved through, coming and going. One of the women (Gail) is a former forest ranger and now communications director of the Samaritans, the group that does water drops in the desert. According to her, the only area that she has concerns about passing through is on the American side. She pointed out several places that we passed that are hangouts for QAnon extremists and other such groups. Gave me shivers. I was surprised by her answer when I asked about the activity of the cartels. We happened to be at the border crossing. She pointed out the wall at the border separating the two countries, one section of the wall was much shorter than the other. She said that the lower, original wall was built in an attempt to keep the cartel smugglers out of Mexico. The taller section of the wall is the Trump wall. She said that, contrary to common belief, the cartels smuggle more guns from the United States into Mexico rather than the other way around. We also talked about the young kids that are forced by the cartels to run guns from Mexico to the United States. In other words, the cartels play it both ways, whatever fills their pockets.

There’s also the telling story of the little Mexican boy who was observing the barbed wire at the top of the border gate. His question:” Is that there to keep the Americans out?”

And my favorite Sasabe story. Downtown Sasabe consists of a general store with a gas pump and a bar that is open from 5pm to 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Many stop by to gas their cars. I wanted to stop to use the bathroom. So I went inside the store and was told that there was a $2.00 charge and the bathroom was across the street. I was given a key. Sure enough, there it was, a porta potty with a padlock. Definitely worth the memory.

On the way back to Tucson from Sasabe, we stopped for several short walks in the desert along migrant trails, and also checked the water supply of one of the water tanks that are placed in the desert by Humane Borders. The tanks have to be checked regularly to make certain that no one shot them full of bullet holes in order to drain the water. This kind of help on the border has a very ecumenical feel to it, since the primary organizations providing the assistance are 501(c)(3) arms of the Methodist Church (Humane Borders), No mas Muertos (Universalist Unitarians), Samaritanos (Presbyterians), Green Valley Samaritans (UCC), and Derechos Humanos (I think it’s Amnesty International).

Back in Tucson, I spent an amazing afternoon at San Xavier du Bac, the mission church on the Tohono O’Odhan reservation. It’s an impressive structure, filled with marvelous original statuary and mural paintings, founded in 1692 by Father Kino, the equivalent of the patron saint of Tucson. This setting can’t help but take you back in time to an 18th century space. The Indians built the church. If the history is accurate, I appreciated hearing about an early Catholic mission whose mission was more than changing the religious beliefs of the Indians. The church is now a national landmark.

I also stopped by Borderlinks, the organization that sponsored the ORUCC delegation to the border some years ago. They will be in touch with us about future delegation possibilities. Also, I don’t want to forget the visit to the de Grazia art museum in the desert. And, as I’ve mentioned in the past, there’s been a lot of fun tossed in among these days – like an afternoon trip to the vineyards (we stopped at three and had lots of laughs).

And on Sunday, It was so wonderful to share the litany of saints with everyone via Youtube. And today I participated in a zoom meeting to get more detailed information from local Madison leaders on Humanitarian Parole for Afghan refugees.

I so look forward to seeing everyone at church again.

Thank you,

Ruthanne

Hello Friends,

I so much appreciated the Sunday morning sermon on thin places. I was particularly aware of this presence with God at the top of Mt. Lemmon outside Tucson on Saturday. I was invited to join a friend, Marian (Jill Westberg’s first cousin) for a drive up the mountain, all 10,000 feet, and observe the changes in scenery as we ascended, first desert, then pines, then golden aspen. As in Wisconsin, the leaves were wild with beauty. We had many quiet moments, standing in awe of our surroundings. I think this awe was shared by others we saw at pull-off points. Conversations were muted, people walked slowly, and the bright blue sky and standing-rock formations seemed to almost talk to us, reminding us both of our minuscule spot in the history of time while also our uniqueness and ability to change the world.

The experience of Mt. Lemmon was a perfect entree to All Soul’s Day / Week in Tucson. There is celebration of Halloween particularly with the kids. But in Tucson, this week is less secular than in many cities. As in the Mexican tradition, it is the week to remember relatives who have died in previous years by visiting their graves and, with ease, having conversations with their loved ones, alive or dead. Indeed, it is recognition of the thin veil that separates the living from the dead, the celebration of El Día de los Muertos.

There are El Día de los Muertos processions in Tucson every night of this week, with a very large (thousands) and long (several miles) one this Sunday November 7, ending in a well-known market area in downtown Tucson. I chose to participant in a smaller procession sponsored by the local Immigration Justice Center and taking place in South Tucson, traditional home of the Latin community. The procession ended at what is referred to as the Tiradito, a small park area about the size of Friendship Hall that is designed as a meditative remembrance spot for the community. There is a small altar at one end of the area. I had visited this spot the last time I was here and at that time the small altar was filled with small remembrances and crosses from previous visitors.

For last night, people has constructed a much larger altar, filled with candles and crosses. I’ll include a photo. The crosses had the names of the people who had died in 2021 written on them. However, instead of names, the majority of the crosses had the word “Desconocido” written on them, meaning “unknown.” These were people whose remains had been found in the desert. The primary focus of the evening was the reading of the names of the people on the crosses. After each name, we were asked to respond, “Presente,” affirming the presence of the spirit of those people among us. The list included the names of 197 people. It reminded me of our worship service when we are asked to stand and name a person we want to remember as in a litany. And, of course, there was music, great music, initially slow and mournful, then ending, would you believe, in “la bamba.” It was a wonderful evening in many ways.

And I don’t remember mentioning in my first email that I attended worship at Southside Presbyterian Church.Southside is best known for its history as a sanctuary church.It’s a small church in a circular formation.There is a person at the door who takes your temperature.The worship itself is available on line, and the Sunday I attended was the first Sunday that the church was open to congregants. One of the moments I especially appreciated was the initial prayer of blessing in the Tohono O’Odham language. This Sunday was also the day that the church officially renamed the principal rooms of the church in the Tohono O’Odham language.The minister, Rev. Alison Harrington, had us repeat each of the new names with her three times.Also, what an interesting choice of names – Rain, Sun, Butterfly, Saguaro, The Wind Before the Rain – all in Tohono O’Odham.It made me wonder what the names of our rooms would be like in Ho Chunk.And I can’t not say something about the music.Ah, yes, the music, a choir of 7 people who sounded like they had all sung in gospel choirs.It was chilling – and everybody sang out, loud and clear.

Now turning to Casa Alitas – I head over daily about noon. People are dropped off by ICE about 2pm. The men arrive in chains and shackles that the Border Patrol officers remove after they step out of the Border Patrol van. Families also arrive in vans, no chains. The word that comes to me to describe the families is despirited. Then everyone passes through a chain of quiet “bienvenidos” from the volunteers, given a KN95 mask, and asked to be seated in the open patio area. First thing is the COVID-test, given to all. On average, only one in 100 has COVID – I find this amazing. Those who test positive are immediately asked to sit elsewhere and are shuttled off to a separate hotel where they will be quarantined. More waiting for them. None of the people I have seen who tested positive are feeling ill. Nevertheless, needless to say, their results prompt more tests and quarantine for them.

After a brief introduction to Casa Alitas by one of the site leads, the next step is what we refer to as “intake.”This is my baby.I love doing intake.It is basically an interview in which we gather the information we need to arrange transport to sponsors, set in motion searches for family members from whom people were separated at the border, and other similar details. I do this slowly, basically trauma-training 101. I see no need to rush so thy can wait some more for the next step. I welcome them, ask about their health, find out about their families, and talk with them a bit about the city or state where they’ll be headed.We then serve hot chicken soup and a sandwich – most have had nothing but cold burritos for 5 days.And from there I escort them to the “tienda de ropa,” a large, separate room with lines of donated clothing and shoes.Their eyes pop.I think if I weren’t there, they’d be stripping of their old clothes with abandon. Instead, they hurry into small cubicles to change.It’s almost a ceremonial act when they find something that fits and they toss their old clothes in a huge trash can.No doubt that the clothes area is one of the happier moments of their short stay.From that point, it’s all on deck to help each one of them with travel arrangements.Most will fly out the next day, and will be transported late afternoon to the central Tucson Hyatt Hotel.The hotel houses only guests from Casa Alitas, and each guest gets their own room.They are thrilled to find out they will have their own room, shower, and bed.I’ve left out many details here, but you can imagine all that’s happening when 60 men arrive at the same time.Intense but also filled with many warm fuzzies.

Per above, the majority of people arriving now are men from Cuba or Venezuela. Many have saved for years to fly, for example, from Cuba to Ecuador, then to Chile and/or Mexico, then to the border. Casa Alitas staff do not know from one day to the next how many people will be arriving. We suspect now that the men are arriving because the detention centers at the border itself are full and we are receiving spill-over. Thank goodness they make it to us. Many of the men have been separated from their wives at the border. ICE usually sends the women to a detention center in Phoenix. When this happens, our job becomes one of seeking out the details to ensure reunification.

In contrast to the groups of men from Cuba or Venezuela, the families that I have talked with are from Nicaragua. They frequently travel with small children, age several months to 5-7 years old. Kids nearly all have diarrhea from the bad burritos they’ve been fed the last 5 days. And yes, some have been separated from their parents for, at a minimum, several hours. All these families appear destitute, many are concerned about whether their sponsor actually has enough money for their travel. I think it’s safe to assume the next years of their life will be very difficult.

There are those joyous moments, too. Most travel with cell phones and you’ll see them literally jump for joy when they connect with a loved one in the States. Yesterday, one of the men ran around the room with photos of his grandkids. Another ran up to me with a photo of the X-ray of his son in utero, 7 months and counting. One man asked me if there was Mass today – I escorted him to the chapel for some quiet moments alone. I love taking the kids to the children’s area, filled with rocking horses and books and stuffed animals. Beautiful moments.

The staff of Casa Alitas do not know from one day to the next how many people, or if any people, will be arriving at our doorsteps. As you’ve probably heard on the news, the word as of two weeks ago was that the entire border was going to be closed to asylum seekers as of November 1. Well, it’s November 4! My impression is that this policy was deterred, as least for the moment, partially because of the response of activists throughout the United States, including ours in Wisconsin. Everything appears to be in a state of flux, even our immigration policy. You may have heard about the recent meeting in Washington in which activists walked out of a meeting with Biden. Heavy duty!

But I don’t want to leave the impression that it’s been “all work, no play.” I carve out time for many a good restaurant and time with friends. It was a particular joy to have dinner with Delle McCormick, a UCC minister I met in 2019. She has been a primary mover within church circles here at the border, having spent many years working in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. It was fun to find out we were both working in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the same time, only blocks from one another. Delle organized a center specifically for lesbians in Cuernavaca, way before her time. She works with Randy Mayer, another UCC minister at the border.

And some of you will remember the name of Peggy Gessner. Peggy received the boxes of clothing from our clothing drive and made that wonderful video with Steve Sheets. We had lunch recently and I sent a photo of us to Steve. She’s as much a delight in person as she was on the video.

This weekend I hope to visit the church of San Xavier, one of the first churches and schools established by the Dominicans in the Southwest. The church is on the Tohono O’ Odham Indian reservation. You may have heard about their indigenous land that was destroyed to make way for Trump’s border wall. And I want to head up for a walk through Sabino Canyon in the foothills, not far from here. Next week I hope to join a friend for Samaritan trip to the border, when we will do water drops in the desert. I also plan to meet with the director of Borderlinks to explore the possibility of an ORUCC delegation at some point within the next year. More to come……

Blessings,

Ruthanne

Hi Bonnie – Thank you for your email. I’m going to use my response to you as a way of providing a brief update to a few others also. First off, it’s been a packed and wonderful few days, reorienting to Casa Alitas and settling in at my Mennonite Tucson home-away-from home. To answer your question, the number of migrants arriving at Casa Alitas is unpredictable and varies from 12 to 200 per day. In recent weeks, there were as many as 300 Haitians per day for a several days, then none. The majority of arrivals now are from Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador and some who have made their way from farther south in South America.

There are many factors that affect the number of people arriving at Casa Alitas, but two at the moment are of major importance. The first is that a no-bid federal contract was recently (within the last two weeks) awarded to “Endeavors,” what is ironically called a welcome center on the border. Endeavors formally provided services for vets and is associated with Lutheran Social Services (I don’t know the direct link here). The head of Endeavors is the former Director of ICE whose tenure included the worse time of family separations. By contract, Endeavors is being paid $354/person/day, and it is staffed by people making big salaries – not volunteers. Hearing about it reminded me of the prison industry and its money-making capacity. Casa Alitas has received confirmation that Endeavors is receiving over 300 migrants per day. You can imagine the stories about mistreatment and conditions there. With this new contract in place and Border Patrol and ICE eating out the same pocket, arrivals to Casa Alitas during the past week have dwindled to as many as 12 a day, even though they are staffed to welcome hundreds. Very difficult and challenging situation. More to come.

The second factor of major concern to Casa Alitas staff is that, according to the Biden Administration, the Remain in Mexico is going to restart on November 1, 2021. How this will change what is actually happening at the border is difficult to guess, but it will for certain have an effect. The disappointment in the Biden administration runs deep here, not only at Casa Alitas but also among many others. One indication of this is that Justice for All signs dominant the lawns and along the highways.

I won’t go into it here, but I’ve also listened to stories from staff that are difficult to write about: people arriving at Casa Alitas with gun-shot wounds from the cartels, young mothers and babies arriving without their husbands because their husbands were “delivered” back across the border, and many who arrive with but minimal understanding or knowledge of things we take for granted. For example, I helped a little boy yesterday learn how to flush a toilet. It’s so easy to assume so much. Fortunately, Casa Alitas has medical staff available and people skilled in multiple languages, including the indigenous languages of Ecuador in particular. For me, I figure my Spanish vocabulary doubles every day by necessity with words you don’t learn in a Spanish textbook!

I’ve told folks at Casa Alitas that I’m there to do whatever needs doing. However, I think I’ll be slotted mainly at the help desk. I was trained yesterday is how to use their antiquated but functional system of tracking all kinds of necessary info. A primary responsibility of people at the help desk (usually two people at a time) is to book the airplane or bus tickets for people traveling to their sponsors. It’s also a catch all for the many other questions that people have. Major issues here are how to pay for airline or bus tickets. Some migrants have credit card numbers of their sponsors, some have cash, some have promised financing, others have pleading faces and only know that their sponsor lives at x street in Cleveland. Very complex and demanding, and also one of the most important roles at the center. Many people have never been in a major bus, let alone, major airport, so stress level is high as we explain how to get to the right place at the right time. Fortunately, Casa Alitas has volunteers that accompany people through the first steps at an airport but, needless to say, that’s just the beginning.

Also, I’m making plans for a day trip to the border with Los Samaritanos. There are few moments more memorable to me than delivering containers of water in the desert, and I look forward to a trip with a Samaritan colleague of years past.

To give you some sense of how I was welcomed here, I was actually met at the airport by a Casa Alitas site coordinator. That spoke wonders to me. We went directly to Casa Alitas. I frequently wear my Wisconsin T-shirt when I travel – it’s an automatic door-opener and even if I don’t know what’s happening with the Green Bay Packers or the Wisconsin Badgers, it’s a great conversation-started, even when I’m walking into a grocery store! When I arrived at Casa Alitas, several volunteers welcomed me with “Oh, we know about the support of people in Wisconsin – a special welcome to you.”

I’m also settling into my new digs, all arranged through the Mennonite Your Way resource. I refer to it as the Mennonite little black address book, addresses of Mennonites all over the world who welcome visitors into their homes. I’ve now been tagged a Mini-Mennie (Mennonite) and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting my Mennonite hosts. Now that I’ve found the local grocery store and NPR on the house radio, I’m feeling comfortable and relaxed in my new setting. I also got my Moderna booster today. Yeah!

Tonight I join the cousin of an ORUCC friend (Jill Westberg) for dinner, then I have arranged to attend Sunday worship at Southside Church, the first sanctuary church in the Southwest, with a Casa Alitas friend. Our ORUCC contingent visited Southside when we here as a group in 2015 (do I remember that year correctly?) and when they had a sanctuary person in residence.

Best wishes to all in Madison. It thrills me to share what we are doing in Wisconsin with friends here in Tucson.

Paz,

Ruthanne