User:Richy Tochihuitl/sandbox

Article Evaluation

Although everything in the article seems somewhat relevant to the topic of “Border Angels,” there was a specific section that distracted me a bit. The section that distracted me was when the writer talked about Operation Gatekeeper. It may be said that it is relevant since it was a move by the federal government to crackdown on illegal immigration. The writer tried to make some connection to the topic by stating how the founder of Border Angels responded. Nonetheless, the information presented on Operation Gatekeeper went on for too long. The article seems relatively neutral, but there one section where it seem biased in favor of the Border Angels. When he mentions a criticism, the author then talks about how the Border “provides only life-saving, humanitarian aid and notifies the U.S. Border Patrol before each desert water dropr Angels only,” which can be seen as a biased response to the criticism. The author did a fair job at presenting multiple viewpoints due to the fact that he presents different laws and the reasoning behind them as well as how the Border Angels responded to it. Also, the author did well in presenting the criticisms against the actions of the Border Angels. After checking the majority of the links to the sources, I found that they worked well in that it sent me to an article that can still be found online. To add on, the author did well in showing a source after presenting the majority of the facts. This is consistent with what is expected of a Wikipedia editor since one must show that their sources are credible. There was some instances were the editor did not present a source after a sentence such as when talking about Marcha Migrante IV. Nonetheless, the source presented at the end of the next long sentence is where the information for the fact about how long the march was can be found. The information overall comes an abundance of articles discussing the various parts of the Border Angels. For instance, an article titled “Border Angels” discussed the various events that occurred during Marcha Migrante X: All Lives Matter. In general, the sources seem to be relatively unbiased in that they tried to formally present the information. Still, there is a point in an article called “Border Angels- put out jugs of water in Otay Mesa, in Ocotillo, in Jacumba, in Campo” in which a border patrol agent called the immigrants horrible people and the author stated that her comment was blandly informative. Since most of the information of historical, the information does not seem out of date. When talking about the number of deaths, no specific number was mentioned. In regards to the talk page, no talk page is presented for the “Border Angels” post. I was not able to find the rating for the article and it is not part of any WikiProjects. Lastly, the manner in which the article differs from the way the topic is presented in class is that it seems to be formal and relatively unbiased. Still, there is some similarity in that in class the instructor does not fail to present multiple viewpoints for a specific topic even if the texts that we read are biased.

Ana and Richy Shared Sandbox AMST 150 Topic: Humanitarian Aid Along U.S.-Mexico Border

Lead Section Outline Due to the lack of resources that Latino immigrants have faced in both Mexico and the United States, especially in the border towns, many organizations have been created to provide humanitarian assistance to immigrants and help alleviate some of the problems. The type of humanitarian assistance provided along the U.S.-Mexico border can range from a more hands-on approach as organizations leave gallons of water of immigrants travelling through the desert to simply providing shelter and food for recent deportees in several Mexican towns. All in all, the organization providing the assistance have the goal in mind of helping those who are not able to help themselves when they are desperate need. On the side of the United States, there are organizations like Humane Borders, No More Deaths, and Samaritans help the survival of immigrants in the desert by placing one-gallon water jugs along several trails and, therefore, counter the high number of deaths that have been a consequence of regulations like the Arizona Bill 1070. Though these organizations try to do actions they think are helpful, opposing groups have fostered their criminalization. Moreover, other organizations have focused on providing humanitarian assistance to Hispanic communities composed on immigrants have already settled in the United States. Some groups like the Nuestra Casa (Our House) agency have tackled health care problems such as by providing information and health resources to reduce the prominence of Tuberculosis and HIV in cities like El Paso, Texas. Institutions like the University of Arizona have even been involved in trying to provide information and promote policy changes to decrease the high rates of Type 2 diabetes among immigrants families. On a similar note, groups like the Neighborhood Action Group in Chula Vista, California have acquired the support of women and children to provide humanitarian assistance in the form of activism to support immigrants.

On the other hand, as immigration policies and ICE continue to target immigrants and the rate of deportations continue to increase drastically, humanitarian groups have form along Mexico cities where a lot of undocumented individuals are deported. Due to the fact that the deportation of many individuals is becoming more and more notable as many become homeless, various business, faith based communities, and non profit organizations continue to organize to assist the exhausted deportees. One of the many reasons why humanitarian groups in the Mexico side of the border decided to help deportees is because many of the deportees do not have belongings or family on the Mexico side. As a result, they are deported without anything not even their belongings or ways to contact their family members. The humanitarian group on the Mexico side of the border  create a pathway for transitional support such as providing the deportees food, shelter, clothing, legal help and social services. In addition, there are humanitarian groups that provides meals and shelter to deportees according to their deportation documents. In other words, their deportations documents are “tickets” for the deportees to receive meals and be sheltered. However, there are certain groups who have primary focus and only help out a certain population. For example, the Nazareth House shelters migrant women and children in a safe space where they can bathe, eat, sleep, call their families and reflect on their experience.

Rough Draft

Among the diversity of humanitarian assistance along the U.S.-Mexico border, there are groups who take on a more hands-on approach. The Humane Borders, No More Deaths, and Samaritans are all humanitarian groups that provide water in order to reduce deaths of immigrants who are journeying through the Arizona desert. Despite having a common goal, a policy passed in 2010 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife federal agency allowed water drums with 55 gallons of water to be placed in roads of disturbed areas, which supports method of Humane Borders and counters the methods of No More Deaths and Samaritans who place one-gallon jugs of water hanging from trees. In contrast, there are other humanitarian groups whose goal is create healthier communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Due to an incidence rate of HIV and tuberculosis being higher in border towns such as El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Sonora than at the national level in both countries, the Nuestra Casa Initiative, developed with the help of Project Concern International, the US Agency for International Development, the Alliance of Border Collaborative, Dr. Eva Moya and Damien Schumman, tried to counter the health disparities by using a cross-border strategy that moved around an exhibit prominent in various Museums and universities. Similarly, Special Action Groups as part of the Border Health Strategic Initiative created by the University of Arizona with other groups helped create a healthier Hispanic community in Arizona border towns by creating policy and infrastructure changes both in the public and private factor. These groups provided humanitarian assistance to counter the prominence of Type 2 diabetes among the Hispanic community since they acquired a block grant for new walking trails and encouraged public elementary schools to provide healthier food choices for students. Not only do these Hispanic communities faced health inequalities, but political inequalities as well. The need for political change was so huge that it has encouraged Hispanic women to engage in activism at a local level. The Neighborhood Action Group in Chula Vista, California is one of the groups of the attracted the help of local Hispanic women to implement a feminist perspective in activism in spite of the social and economic obstacles as well as Assembly Bill No. 775, 2005 that prohibited children being used as interpreters. These humanitarian groups have implemented various strategies to pursue their goals that ultimately try to counter the number of immigrant deaths and abuses in immigrant detention even if it means the criminalization and higher levels of discrimination against them.

In regards to the Humanitarian assistance along the U.S.-Mexico border on the Mexico side, most humanitarian groups focus on assisting the deportees. As rates of deportation continue to drastically increase, “the deportation of many individuals is becoming more and more notable” in the streets of Mexico cities. As a result, many humanitarian groups have form along the Mexico cities where undocumented individuals are deported such as Nogales, Mexico. The humanitarian groups consist of faith-based communities and primarily non-profit organizations that assist the exhausted deportees. Not only are the deportees exhausted, but also many of them do not have any resources with them such as money, food, or family information that can help them. This often times leads them to be homeless and go days without eating. They often go homeless because they "do not know where to turn to receive a meal, find shelter and to make a phone call". Along with them arriving without those resources, many immigrants "find themselves in distress" due to the fact that they arrive to Mexico emotionally and psychologically devastated. Contributing factors that might have caused them to be devastated can either be that they were separated from "their family members or the inability to work legally in the United States". Therefore, the primary purpose of the humanitarian groups on the Mexico side of the border is to create a pathway for transitional support such as providing the deportees food, shelter, clothing, legal help and social services. In addition, there are humanitarian groups that provides meals and shelter to deportees according to their deportation documents. Humanitarian groups along the border in Mexico are:


 * 1) El Comer
 * 2) Nazareth House
 * 3) Camino Juntos
 * 4) La 72
 * 5) FM4: Paso Libre