DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS VISITS ARIZONA

Doctors Without Borders spent many days assisting local humanitarian volunteers at a temporary refuge for asylum seekers along the border wall near Sasabe. While primitive, the makeshift refuge was established to save lives and reducing suffering during temperature extremes--providing shade, water, and food to families seeking asylum as they await Border Patrol pickup.

While the doctors provided suggestions and donated some items to improve safety and sanitation at the camp, they expressed admiration and support for the several organizations that worked tirelessly for months to provide humanitarian aid.  

“I’m personally in awe,” Ramirez told the Daily Star. “It’s eye-opening for us to see volunteers from 20 years old to 88 years old. We found an amazing community here.”

Doctors Without Borders identified the Sasabe area as the one in most dire need of support. Some temporary makeshift shade areas east of Sasabe are a place where families can rest, get water and a snacks, and be greeted with smiles and hugs after their long journeys while awaiting Border Patrol pickup.   

A small child is dwarfed by the border wall east of Sasabe, Arizona.

Beginning in the spring of 2023, migration patterns changed and humanitarians encountered more families with infants and small children at the border wall. 

The result has been: fewer people continuing to cross the desert and more refugees from all over the world crossing the border and surrendering and exercising their right to seek asylum.  

While we most often encounter children with families, there are some cases in which they are traveling within a group, most hoping to be reunited with family members in the U.S.    

The Border Patrol has stepped up its presence along the wall road east of Sasabe, Arizona, with several van pickups occurring on most days. Here, asylum seekers line up to be transported in Border Patrol vehicles for processing. 

Typically, women and children are transported first, with men waiting longer for pickup. Families may or may not be separated during this time, depending on the agents on duty.

One key role that Humane Borders and other humanitarian groups play during this time is to bear witness--ensuring that everyone is treated with respect.    

As Doctors Without Borders visited the wall east of Sasabe, they saw these children blowing bubbles, as captured in this poignant photograph. 

While the encounters that humanitarians have with children are usually brief, we find ways to let kids be kids--giving them stuffed toys, soap bubbles, or kicking a soccer ball at the makeshift refuge for asylum seekers. 

Volunteer Andy also shared his dog, Rafa, with curious kids at camp, referring to Rafa as his "therapy dog." 

One of the most critical needs identified by Doctors Without Borders and others in the Sasabe area is the absence of reliable, safe drinking water. 

Here, Laurie from Humane Borders puts up a blue flag (the universal symbol of water) with permission from a local rancher. The rancher has a series of wells throughout his property that flow through a drinking fountain and into cattle tanks like this. This rancher estimates 35 migrants have lost their lives on his property in recent years. He laments, "No one should die on my ranch because they don't have access to water."