A race takes place in the Arizona desert to help migrants who have just crossed the border

The current one1:14:23America votes: stories about the Arizona border, politics and people

In the Arizona desert just north of the U.S. border with Mexico, a group of volunteers last week helped newly arrived migrants call the family and friends they left behind in other parts of the world.

“(I’m) in America, in America,” an Egyptian man excitedly told his loved ones during a video call.

The migrants had crossed the border illegally hours earlier, hoping to seek asylum, when they encountered U.S. officials. But the volunteers found them first: huddled around a fire before dawn, wrapped in coats and towels against the frigid night air.

“There is so much hope and excitement in their eyes,” said Margaret Coffran, a volunteer with the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans (GVSS).

“They are finally on American soil,” she shared The current one Matt Galloway, who joined GVSS on this journey through the desert last week.

“This is a big day for them.”

LOOK | Entering the desert to help migrants at a dangerous border:

On the ground near the US-Mexico border wall

In the middle of the night, volunteers with Samaritans from Green Valley and Sahuarita entered the Arizona desert to help migrants make the harrowing journey across the US border. The group provides humanitarian assistance to migrants before they are processed by border officials. CBC Radio’s The Current joined them.

The volunteers met at 4 a.m. and drove two hours into the desert in SUVs loaded with food, water and medical supplies. They are not trying to circumvent the work of border guards, but they are doing so “relieve suffering” of migrants, by offering sustenance, advice or even simple kindness – such as paper and pens for children to draw.

They found this group of migrants at the beginning of a 9-mile gap in the border wall, a common drop-off point for criminals smuggling people to the border. These border crossings have become a political flashpoint in Arizona, a swing state that could play a decisive role in the looming US elections.

As the sun rose, the volunteers met 33 migrants from countries as far away as Egypt, Turkey, Nepal and Cameroon. Many declined to share their full names with CBC, fearing their asylum claims or impact on their families back home.

A group of people around a small fire in the desert — Migrants sat around a fire as dawn broke in the Arizona desert last week. The migrants came from distant countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Nepal and Cameroon. (Ben Jamieson/CBC)

By the fire a young woman sat on a milk crate, her four-year-old daughter fast asleep on her lap. Through an interpreter, she mentioned America and said they had left their home in Guanajuato, central Mexico, a week ago. They left to escape violent gangs, she said, and tried to reach her husband, who was already in the US

A 29-year-old man from Rwanda said his three-week journey was a “terrible… very difficult experience”. He said he fled military service at home and did not want to share his name out of concern for his family’s safety.

He said he never imagined he would make this journey.

“You’re leaving your loved ones behind,” he said. “You don’t know when you’re going to see them.”

A woman and her child sit outside, next to a fire. Their faces have gone blurry. — A young Mexican woman who called her name America, with her daughter near the US-Mexico border in Arizona. She told CBC she was fleeing violence at home. (Ben Jamieson/CBC)

Ranchers say thousands cross his land

The migrants crossed to Jim Chilton’s 20,000-acre ranch, which runs nearly nine miles along the border just south of Arivaca, Ariz.

“I have five motion-activated cameras … (and) I have gotten more than 3,550 images of people in camouflage and carpet shoes and backpacks since the election of (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden,” said Chilton, whose experiences at the border earned him a speaking place with the Republican National Convention in July.

Chilton found a pile of those carpet shoes thrown away on his land. They are slip-on shoes with soles made of soft material that helps hide footprints. Chilton said officials have intercepted criminals crossing his country with drugs and weapons — and that some of those encounters have been violent.

“I don’t like the idea of people coming through my ranch and poisoning our people and bringing it all the way to Canada,” he said, referring to drug trafficking and the fentanyl crisis.

Migrants who come to seek asylum “don’t bother me that much in the meantime,” Chilton said.

A man and a woman stand in their house and smile at the camera.

People stand outside in a courtyard, next to a pile of shoes. — The Chiltons, at top, own a ranch that covers about 20,000 acres and runs along the border. Below are some carpet shoes – worn to hide footprints – that were discarded at Chilton’s ranch. (Ben Jamieson/CBC)

Biden initially promised a more welcoming approach to immigration when he was elected. But after monthly border encounters increased — to 249,741 last December — Biden imposed restrictions new restrictions about asylum seekers in June. Those encounters fell by 77 percent – to 58,038 people – in August, according to the Pew Research Center.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris visited Arizona last month, where she promised to tighten asylum laws passed earlier this year and to crack down on drug trafficking.

Republican nominee Donald Trump said he will secure the border by completing the wall he started building during his first term. A mass deportation of undocumented migrants.

Chilton said he is praying for a Trump victory.

“He will finish the wall, build the trenches and put the necessary personnel at the border,” he said.

“People coming into the country should come in legally, not illegally.”

A man works to set up a helpline sign in the Arizona desert — Mark Gerrish, a U.S. border agent, installs a sign with an emergency number for migrants to call if they need help. (Ben Jamieson/CBC)

Coffran, the GVSS volunteer, thinks the idea of completing the wall is “silly.”

“There’s no way to physically close down our entire border unless you want to spend a few more billion dollars on it, blowing through the mountains,” she said.

She said most of the migrants she meets in the desert are families who want to start a new life and make a contribution.

“They have gifts to bring to our country and we have gifts to share with them,” she said. “America’s definition of existence is diversity. And now we’re shutting down that part of us.”

Both parties engaged in ‘political theater’

Back in the desert, American officials arrive and organize the migrants into groups. America and her daughter climb into the back of a truck and are driven away to submit their asylum application.

Mark Gerrish, a border agent, installs a sign with an emergency number for migrants to call if they need help. He is familiar with GVSS’s work and thinks, “When people try to help people, it’s generally a good thing.”

“(But) sometimes things are complicated here,” he added. “Not everyone realizes how complicated; they try to make it simpler than it really is.”

People sit in the back of a vehicle in the desert. Border Patrol is written on the side of the vehicle. — Migrants wait in a border patrol vehicle until they are taken to submit their asylum claims. (Ben Jamieson/CBC)

At 8am the volunteers are busy packing up tables, stoves and coffee, ready to return the next day.

Randy Mayer, who runs GVSS, says he finds it frustrating that he can’t help with what comes next for these migrants, some of whom could be deported within days.

“Central America thinks immigration is a bad thing for the United States, and they think it’s all about criminals,” said Mayer, a pastor at a local church.

“But the reality is that all these people are escaping really bad situations. They should be given the opportunity to at least prove that.”

A man is interviewed in the desert — Randy Mayer leads the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans. He doesn’t think any of the major political parties in the US are ready to solve the problems at the border. (Ben Jamieson/CBC)

Mayer has been doing humanitarian work on the border for almost thirty years. He believes there isn’t much difference in how Republicans or Democrats approach the problem, even if there is one candidate is more concerned “ugly rhetoric.”

“Each administration has introduced more militarization and more cops – and the next administration will build on that,” he said.

“It’s just political theater, that’s what it is. It’s not a solution for anything and it just makes people’s lives miserable.”

Mayer pointed out how treacherous crossing the Arizona desert can be. More than 4,300 people have died since 2000, with the remains of 114 people believed to have tried to reach the border discovered in the first eight months of 2024, according to the nonprofit organization Humane Boundaries.

Mayer said GVSS has saved thousands of lives over the years, but in some ways these migrants saved him, too.

“My life has completely changed… it has softened my heart,” he said.

“It has shown me that compassion and love are a much more meaningful path than building walls and barriers and making the world revolve all around me.”