Dear Friends of No More Deaths/ No Más Muertes,

As summer winds down and we enter the cooler fall months in the Arizona borderlands, we know from past years’ experience that migrant and refugee cross-border travel increases during this time of year.  We also know that since January 2018, just in southern Arizona alone, we’ve had 244 migrant deaths. That’s about two lives lost per week in the brutal desert border region, with a grieving family left  behind. And those are only the bodies that we’ve found.  Many, many more have died and not been found.

As poverty, violence and the dramatic effects of climate change increasingly worsen living conditions in Central and South America, our refugee situation in the U.S. will only worsen.  This is a worldwide trend.  As of last year, according to new statistics from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the population of people in the world displaced by conflict or persecution reached 70.8 million — more than double the number recorded in 2012.

But the United States is not stepping up - last year, the U.S., with a GDP of nearly $20 trillion, took the fewest numbers of refugees in 40 years: only 22,491 people. And this year, the limit will be 18,000. (This is compared to 110,000 allowed during the last year of the Obama administration.) As another point of comparison, in 2015, Lebanon housed around 1.2 million Syrian refugees in its population of 4.5 million people; one in five people.

No More Deaths/ No Más Muertes seeks to reduce the death and suffering of migrants and refugees in southern Arizona.  We are also increasing our humanitarian aid in border towns in northern Mexico – we are currently working in four major crossing and migration points.  And our search and rescue teams are now having to extend their work into Texas to search for those lost or missing in the remote borderlands there.

We have our work cut out for us. But even as our lifesaving humanitarian work is increasingly under attack by this administration, we’re doubling down on our efforts to bring dignity, kindness and lifesaving support to all those who need to migrate and seek refuge in this country.

During this time of aggressive attacks on both refugees and humanitarian aid workers, we ask that you support us in this critical, never-ending work by making a generous donation here.  Your gift will enable us to respond to the search and rescue calls from families of loved ones lost in the desert every day. Your gift will enable us to provide legal support to those trying to leave the detention system and be reunited with their families. And your gift will enable us to provide water, food, socks, blankets and other supplies along remote migrant paths, that few groups, besides No More Deaths’ volunteers, will venture to. 

Please give generously here. We appreciate your continued solidarity and support. We couldn’t do this work without you.

With deep gratitude,

The No More Deaths/ No Más Muertes community