Caution: “Smuggling and illegal immigration may be encountered in this area.” Visitors to state and national parks, monuments and memorials in Southern Arizona have undoubtedly seen these signs posted along popular hiking trails. The sites near the Mexico border are great spots to find hiking, bird watching and camping, but also provide the perfect place for undocumented…
SAN LUIS — Friendship Park sits abandoned and rusting. This park, where children used to play baseball and families filled picnic tables, will either be the answer to a daily human traffic jam, or will continue to represent a failure at the San Luis port of entry near Yuma. Friendship Park, a name that suggests happy,…
The office of Coalición de Derechos Humanos is quiet on this Thursday afternoon. At a long table by the door, the knotted brows of volunteers are lit by MacBooks as they comb over papers and speak quietly on cell phones. A tapestry of La Virgen de Guadalupe hangs below a clock by the window,…
Border patrol officers and agents regularly harass, intimidate and threaten citizens and journalists alike who take photos from public rights of way at border patrol entries and do the same when they take photos of agents either there or in the field. Such harassment, including demanding people stop taking photos without a reason, is one of…
The entirety of Organ Pipe National Monument’s grounds opened in September, making the park’s next tour season in January the first that will cover all the grounds since the park closed nearly half its acreage in 2003. The opening comes 12 years after the death of Ranger Kris Eggle, who was killed at the park in…
