About Humane Borders

Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children face economic disaster in their homelands and migrate to the United States every year. Many of them come across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Arizona. Increasing numbers of them die every year making the attempt. The death toll is the direct result of U.S. border control policy, which ignores the economic forces on both sides of the border driving human beings to make such choices.

Humane Borders, motivated by faith, offers humanitarian assistance to those in need through more than 70 emergency water stations on and near the border.

Deployment of water saves lives and invites public discourse: We want to legalize the undocumented migrants now working and living in the United States; create a responsible guest worker program; increase the number of visas for Mexican nationals; demilitarize border; support economic development in Mexico; provide more federal aid for local medical service providers, law enforcement and adjudication, land owners and managers.

We invite federal, state, tribal and county organizations and agencies, as well as individuals, churches and humanitarian groups, to join in and support our life-saving efforts. We welcome all persons of good faith.

Water Stations

Our most visible public work is the creation and maintenance of a network of emergency water stations throughout the Arizona borderlands. In 2004, we also donated equipment and resources for water stations to be deployed on the Mexican side of the border.

Volunteers

Hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life and different faith traditions offer time and services to our humanitarian effort, including more than 70 trips weekly into the deserts to maintain our water stations in peak season.

Leadership

Rev. Robin Hoover, pastor of Tucson's First Christian Church, is co-founder and president of Humane Borders. All six officers of Humane Borders Inc. serve on a volunteer basis.

Collaborations

Our work would be impossible were it not for the informal and formal collaborations we openly seek with our supporting organizations, individual participants, public and private land managers, property owners, tribal leaders, and faith-based groups.

Bibliography

In this section you will find overviews and links to government reports, academic research, theology, books and journalism concerned with the history and development of U.S.-Mexico border issues, especially immigration; and the basis for a faith-based response to the injustices experienced by migrants and citizens of the border region.

Links

We've created a fairly comprehensive set of Web links to border-related faith-based groups, advocacy groups, news media, academic centers and think tanks, federal agencies and congressional committees.