On the U.S. side, we spent our time exploring the desert itself. It is a vast "highway." Literally tens of thousands of migrants pass through this desert every year making their way into the United States. The hazards are many. The rugged terrain makes travel difficult and dangerous. Weather presents another danger. In the winter temperatures can dip well below freezing. In the summer triple-digit temperatures contribute to exhaustion and dehydration. Coyotes, guides who promise to lead migrants through the desert, often exploit or rob migrants and even inflict violence on them, from beatings and rape to murder. Coyotes have been known to leave migrants stranded in the desert after taking their money, leaving them to make it on their own. Of course, since migrants do not have documentation, their journey is made even more difficult, compounding all the complications, as they try to evade detection. Unfortunately, there are even reports that border patrol agents sometimes abuse migrants, ranging from verbal abuse and humiliation to physical abuse, kicking, beating, and even jumping on handcuffed migrants who have been apprehended. Hundreds of migrants die in the desert every year because of these hardships. Infants, women, and children are most at risk. Bodies of babies are among the bodies of dead migrants that have been retrieved from the desert.

On the Mexican side of the border, we met with many migrants, some who where planning to make the trek across the border and through the desert and some who had been apprehended and returned to Mexico by the U.S. Border Patrol. As we talked with a couple of young men in Altar who were planning to cross the border, I became concerned that they were wearing only light jackets. I asked them whether they were aware that the temperature was forecast for the next few nights at below freezing. They were unaware; they were surprised. I feared they might start their journey without enough clothing to keep them warm in the frigid night. Would they be added to the death statistics?

One man we met at an aid station had been returned by the border patrol. His bruised ribs were the result of kicks he had received after being handcuffed. He told us he had lived in Los Angeles for eighteen years, where he had a family and a job. He returned to Mexico to see his grandmother, who was in ill health. He tried to get documentation to return, but could not. He tried to return without documentation and was apprehended. His family, on both sides of the border, was the driving force for him to make the journey in both directions.

We met many migrants who reminded us that the quest for better jobs so that they could improve the quality of life for their families was their primary motivation. We met a young family, mother, father, and two-year-old daughter, at a shelter. They had been apprehended and returned to Mexico. They were waiting for an opportunity to try again. Once again, it was the hope of making a better life that made them think the hazards were worth the risk. The people we met were simply people trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Immigration is in the news. It is part of the national discussion. As you listen to the debates or read about them, you can tell that security and economics are primary concerns. While these are important considerations, they are not the only ones. The church must be a voice to raise other significant issues, the humanitarian issues that must be part of the ongoing discussion. Safety must be number one. It is unacceptable that our policy results in the death of people, especially infants, children, and women in the desert. Family stability must be another. In a nation that includes "family values" as a significant phrase in the national discussion, it seems more than strange that we are content with policy that results in family separation, sometimes for long periods of time, and even family breakups.

Policy makers are aware that our immigration policy has not satisfactorily met the needs of security or economics. Estimates are that only about one-third of migrants are stopped. That means thousands enter the country. Our policy has not met the goal for security. The policy has cost our country billions of dollars, and the cost continues to rise. That's a cost that every taxpayer bears. Our policy has put a stress on small business owners, somtimes causing the closure of the business, and it has had negative impacts on consumers -- that's every American. Because security and economic concerns still loom, it is clear that the converstation will continue. As the conversation continues, we have an opportunity to insist that humanitarian concerns take a high priority in the conversation. Further, it only makes sense that conversations proceed in partnership with our neighbors. The issue is a big one, with serious consequences politically and economically and in terms of the cost to human life.

Grace and Peace!

Bob