With little more than the clothing on their backs and aspirations for a better life, some illegal immigrants crossing through the remote peaks and valleys of the Sonoran Desert reach no farther than certain death. But some find that luck is on their side.
Plastic jugs of water left behind by the humanitarian group No More Deaths can save lives.
No More Deaths is a Tucson-based, volunteer-run organization that provides water, food and medical aid to undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S. and Mexico border. Since 2004, the group has been servicing “supply drop points” with water along migrant trails in Southern Arizona.
“We do this because there is a need for it,” said Giovanni Conti, a No More Deaths volunteer.
The group leaves gallon jugs of water at drop points in the hopes that fewer people will die during their journey through the arid desert, which often yields harsh weather conditions, especially in the summer heat.
Walt Staton, a No More Deaths volunteer said that even one summer day in the desert without food or water can be fatal.
The organization was founded by several Tucsonans and began as a faith-based humanitarian effort, but transformed into a large-scale project with multiple aid stations throughout Southern Arizona. Now the group is open to any person willing to help, regardless of religious affiliation.
Conti volunteered with the group in 2007 when he lived in Tacoma, Washington. Shortly after his five-week stint, he moved to Tucson to pursue border work permanently.
Conti credits his drive to help border crossers to his grandparents who emigrated from Sicily in the 1920s without documentation.
No More Deaths is funded by donations and staffed by volunteers who are passionate about the goals of the project. The group tries to keep efforts going year round, but the summer months are the most crucial for water disbursement.
Aside from offering water to migrants, the group also provides food and medical assistance at desert aid camps near Arivaca.
One such camp on land owned by Karl Hoffman, a photographer and migrant rights activist, has recently been home for students around the country who have volunteered their spring break week to help No More Deaths.
“To me it’s just another encounter with human beings,” said Hoffman referring to his efforts helping migrants. “ I can’t help them but [I can] give them a drink of water and some fruit.”
The land, which houses anywhere from 12 to 30 volunteers at a time, is a modest camp whose boundaries are defined by a simple wired fence. One large covered tent that serves as a gathering space for all of the volunteers, is positioned next to a smaller tent that is used as a makeshift kitchen.
Aside from these few features, the rest of the camp includes small tents used for individual rest and revitalization.
“Our camp is a place of rest, so if someone is really dehydrated or just needs a day or two to heal from something, they are welcome to rest with us,” Staton said.
Each day groups made up of at least one person who speaks Spanish and another capable of providing medical aid, map out routes already saturated with water to continue their work in areas not yet covered.
“It’s been really fun and really emotional at times,” said Heather Nichols-Haining, a student volunteer from Whitman College in Washington. “This is really important stuff. These are human rights,” she said.
Recently No More Deaths volunteers
have been seeing whole families crossing with children, which Staton
said is a recent development. 
“We find a lot of people who are just wandering around and we just try to see what we can do to empower them and help them make a decision of what they want to do next,” Staton said.
Katie Dwyer, a student volunteer from the University of Oregon said, “It’s really hard to be in a place that’s so beautiful knowing that people are dying.”
While desert aid remains the most crucial part of their work, No More Deaths also has a station in Nogales, Sonora. The Mariposa Aid Station offers help to immigrants who have been deported back to Mexico. Like in the desert aid camps, migrants are offered food, water, medical aid and assistance with transportation.
The Mariposa Station usually sees 20 to 30 people a day, but it is not uncommon to see up to 200 people per day, said Antonio Zepaten, a No More Deaths Volunteer who frequents the station.
Back in the desert, the No More Deaths work is often challenged by the U.S. Border Patrol.
“When an agent is out they have full discretion with what they are doing,” Staton said. “You find really nice Border Patrol agents who are pretty reasonable and then you find some that are really hostile.”
More
serious issues arise with hunters in the area shooting up the water
jugs, though No More Deaths volunteers rarely run into them in person,
Staton said.
U.S. Border Patrol statistics for Tucson sector agents said 443 illegal immigrants were found after being abandoned by their smugglers in 2008. The total number of deaths in the sector decreased by 17 percent from 202 immigrants in 2007 and 167 in 2008.
“It has happened a lot more now because the nature of the smuggling has changed,” Staton said of migrants lost in the desert by their “coyotes” or transporters.“People doing transportations are on a schedule and are in it for the money.”
For the past two years, No More Deaths has documented individual alleged cases of abuse of migrant detainees in short-term custody at the hand of the U.S. Border Patrol on the border between Arizona and Sonora.
“We are trying to change how people treat migrants in customs,” said Steve Johnston, a No More Deaths volunteer.
“Crossing the Line,” a book published by No More Deaths in September 2008, which documents alleged verbal and physical abuse, was presented at a Congressional briefing in Washington D.C. on Sept. 17 hosted by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.).
The U.S Border Patrol says that these allegations are false.
“We as an agency are obligated to report abuse,” said Omar Candelaria, U.S. Border Patrol Field Operations Supervisor. “If I see an agent abusing it’s my obligation to report it.”
Despite the possibility of deportation, migrants often find their way through the depths of the desert, sometimes with help from No More Deaths and many times with no help from anyone but each other.
“I’ve seen them do incredible things” said Johnston. “The migrants are my heroes.”
