Day 13

Yesterday was quite the day so I didn't get the chance to post before now! It started off pretty slack though because we really didn't need to do anything until 3:30! We all got to sleep in, which was amazing and then we still had a whole morning/afternoon free, so a couple of us went to the cafe to work on some homework until it was time. At 3:30 we had a presentation from an undocumented resident named Dario, who works with an organization called Scholarships A-Z. Their mission is to provide resources and scholarships to students, families and educators through online and community interactions in order to make higher education accessible to all, regardless of immigration status. They give undocumented citizens the chance to attend university or college. He also told us about something called DACA, which keeps someone from being deported for 2 years. It enables them to be able to work, but they can't have a license or health insurance. The card is only effective of 2 years. Only people aged 16-31 are eligible, they have to have lived in the U.S. before they were 16, they need to have had continuous residency for 5 years, and weirdly enough they had to be able to prove they were in the United States on June 15th, 2012. I didn't quite understand that part, but neither did Dario so that was fine!

 He then told us his own personal story, about how his family moved to the United States when he was 9 because his father had lost his job in Mexico. He, his twin brother and his older brother all enrolled in school. His older brother was in his last year of college, with only 11 credits left to earn, when Prop 300 was introduced. Prop 300 asks people to prove their legal residency in Arizona, and if that's not the case they are not eligible for in-state tuition. Since Dario's family were undocumented, this meant that his older brother had to pay out-of state tuition, but since his dad still didn't have a steady job yet, he decided to drop out. His brother, not having anything to do, decided to go back to Mexico and get a job over there. Dario and his twin continued on through school, they graduated 6th and 16th in their class and got accepted into every university they applied, but because of Prop 300 they couldn't attend. Dario was feeling hopeless and was going to follow in his older brother's footsteps, but that is when he discovered Scholarships A-Z. He is now attending Pima Community College to fulfil his general requirements and is planning on becoming an engineer.

After dinner, we got to meet Mike Wilson of the Tohono O'odhma nation, who we had already seen in the documentary Crossing Arizona before going on this trip. Mike previously served as a lay minister for the Presbyterian Church on the Reservation and is an active member of the Humane Borders. Because the Nation denied Humane Borders access to the Reservation land, Mike has taken it upon himself to place water stations on the Reservation. Mike has been putting out water on the Reservation for the past 12 years. He started putting out water bottles, but those were getting slashed by some people on the Reservation. He then started putting out 50 gallon barrels of water, but those keep getting confiscated by the Nation's governments. He only has one other person helping him, David Garcia, who has been helping him of the past 8-9 years. He told us about how one day, after putting out two of his 50 gallon barrels, he was driving past a fire hydrant where someone was filling up their own barrel. It was a 4000 gallon barrel that he was filling up to water cattle. So this cause Mike to ask himself the question "One cow on the reservation is worth how many migrant lives?" Mike feels it is his moral obligation to help the migrants who stumble upon the Reservation. In 2010 there were 253 human remains recovered. 125 were recovered on the Tohono O'odham reservation. It's really incredible that Mike will go against what his tribe government believes, because he believes moral law ranks higher and I agree with him.

After all of the days excursions, most of us went out for a night on the town and we had a great time! It's sad that we've started counting down the days to leaving here, but I am so thankful for everything we have learned on this trip.