Guest Comment: Compassion in the desert

Fate! It must have been fate that Gary Meinert and I elected to travel a trail we had never before driven, south of Arivaca Road, on Friday morning. Had we not, Fabian and Jose, two illegal aliens from the interior of Mexico, would surely have expired. Those were the words of the Border Patrol agents who came to the rescue.

We were about six miles south of Arivaca Road following a sandy wash in which very few vehicles could travel. Fortunately, my Jeep Wrangler 4x4 is set up for just such terrain.

After about one half hour in this beautiful and mysterious countryside, we rounded a bend in the wash. There they were, the panicked faces of these two desperate men. They did not have water, food or anything other than what they were wearing. They told us that the “coyote” (guide) had left them behind because they were unable to keep the pace.

“I want to go home ... will you help us” were the words spoken by Fabian. Fabian could speak some English, but Jose could not. They had met when the coyote had put the group together. They claimed that they had been wandering for five days and had been drinking from puddles, probably stock tanks. How sad!

Fabian had entered the U.S., illegally, previously in the Tijuana area. Jose was less forthcoming with information through his translator, Fabian. However, we suspected that this was not his first time crossing the border illegally.

Of course, these two were expendable in the eyes of these vicious human smugglers who view their group members as commodities. If an alien dies, it is “shrinkage,” much the same as any other commodity being transported.

If they are not able to transport all in the groups, it means less money to the cartel, but by leaving the stragglers behind, it means cutting their losses by delivering the rest of the group of illegal aliens to the stash houses where they become virtual slaves.

Fabian is from Puebla and Jose from Michoac‡n. Both were a long way from home. They were wandering aimlessly, with Phoenix their intended destination. From there, Fabian had hoped to reach New York for construction work and Jose to Kansas to be a cook!?

The countryside, in that area, is hilly and rolling surrounded by mountains. This area is some of the most rugged along the Arizona/Mexican border. But, currently, much of the illegal activity takes place in this area. The nearest main road for these two lost souls was more than six miles away... but they could not walk another one hundred yards.

With our years of training, as previous members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, we knew exactly what to do. There is a precise procedure that we followed.

First, we determined if either was physically injured? No! Then we provided them with food, water and Gatorade (to restore the electrolytes).

Gary remained to assure them that they would be rescued and I traveled to a high point so that I could use my cell phone to call Border Patrol. Using my GPS system, I was able to provide the precise coordinates so that the Border Patrol agents could find our location quickly. They did!

After Fabian thanked us for saving their lives and Border Patrol thanked us for making the rescue possible, they transported these two illegal aliens to their station for processing.

Neither Gary nor I have any idea if either of these I.A.s have criminal records or Third World diseases. Because of his reticence, we suspected that Jose may have had something to hide. Of course, we will never know for sure.

What we do know is that we saved two human lives without breaking any laws under Title 8 of the U.S. Code. For that we feel very good.

Gary Meinert and I travel the back roads of Southern Arizona gathering information and pictures that we can use to make presentations to the general public for educational purposes. We do this as a public service. Our feeling is that well-informed people make good decisions. We want our fellow citizens to be well informed. We can be reached by e-mail at borderissues@yahoo.com.

Don Severe is a resident of Green Valley. He is a retired business executive and past USAF pilot. Don is a freelance writer, public speaker and educator on border issues. He is co-chairman of the Border Patrol Stakeholders Liaison Committee. Don can be reached by e-mail at borderissues@yahoo.com.