An Arizona nonprofit recently launched two new websites that can be used to help migrants currently travelling to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Robin Hoover, president of Migrant Status, Inc. worked with the help of Mexico City-based journalist Laura Garciandia to get valuable information about traveling through Mexico to Central American migrants via a downloadable PDF guide available at guiamigrantes.com.
The guide, written in Spanish, includes information on transit methods and routes, criminal organizations and their known locations to avoid, tips for crossing through the desert safely, emergency resources, first aid advice and more.
Hoover had been working with the idea of compiling and publishing information for migrants to use while travelling to the border for quite a while. In his experience, information is what could help them most.
“Up came the idea of the [online] migrant guide and then some people in Mexico approached me saying they had very similar ideas,” Hoover said. “People need to understand more about the route and what public resources are available. We started sandwiching these things together and a lot more is going to go on the website.”
Creating an online guide that was accessible to migrants came with its own set of obstacles. Hoover said his team had to figure out how to get the information to those with limited internet access. That’s where the second website comes in.
Robinhoover.com is being repurposed into a tool for shelters in Mexico. They can download a PowerPoint version of the guide and have it displayed in shelters 24/7 so migrants without their own cell phone or internet access can view it. The website is also used for outreach to promote long-term relationships between nonprofit groups who want to help and the shelters that need it. Hoover said such a partnership could help get resources directly to migrants at a higher efficiency rate.
“There’s not a U.S. or Mexican authority that’s putting resources directly into the service providers hands,” he said. “There are religious groups, friends, but not the government. Folks in the U.S. who want to help, we can take them down there to do face-to-face introduction.”
Hoover has been involved in advocacy for 33 years. He founded Humane Borders in 2000, which is a local faith nonprofit that maintains a system of water stations for migrants travelling through the desert to use. He left his position in the organization in 2010, and retired from ministry two years later.
Despite the change, Hoover said he is still very active in advocacy for migrants and the issues they’re facing today. He’s been working “quietly” on specific projects, experimenting with satellite locator beacons for migrants and issuing flashlights for rescue operations. He published a book in 2016 called “Creating Humane Borders.” In it he gives an ethical analysis of border policies, an overview of the help faith communities provide and his recommendations for policy reform. He lectures and goes on speaking tours as well.
“There’s a lot of people who want to do the right thing and [learn] how they can help,” Hoover said. “The resistance is just this hate-filled Trump administration and all the anti-immigrant sentiments. It means that any kind of substantial reform is still a long ways away.”
Migrant Status, Inc. is actively seeking contributions to continue dispersing valuable information to migrants. Contributions can be mailed to 2250 W. Painted Circle, Tucson, AZ 85745.
“Five dollar contributions make all the difference,” he said. “When I ran Humane Borders we raised a quarter of a million dollars and it was a Mississippi of five dollar bills, so what people contribute really does matter.”
This article appears in Dec 27, 2018 – Jan 2, 2019.
World’s shortest guidebook: “Turn back”
Is the first item in the guide a strong suggestion to not do it? Why isn’t anyone telling these people that you can’t just waltz over the border if and when you make it through Mexico? I love how Robin Hoover is blaming Trump voters for the resistance. I’ve been opposed to illegal immigration for the last 40 years.
They can’t wait to destroy us like they have Europe. College educated idiots.
Funny how the people whose ancestors just ‘waltzed right in’ are now so against it. It’s almost as if they are being led by Bill the Butcher. BTW, up until recently, entering legally was just a matter of arriving without Cholera or Tuberculosis and walking right in.
Kenneth – how do you know if the ancestors of any of the above posters ‘waltzed right in’? Many Americans today have ancestors who entered thru Ellis Island in New York – not necessarily a waltz by any definition as far as I know.
Sorry, I just don’t buy the over-generalization of a group of people or posters who do not hold your view.
Sixth generation American born (from pre 1800). I want people to immigrate legally. They have required us to build a wall to slow criminals down. Would have been a big help on the war on drugs in the 70s.
Why are y’all so incredibly anti immigrant? Do you eat fruits, do you eat vegetables, do you eat chicken and pork, do you live in houses constructed by immigrants? Don’t give me this crap about legal and illegal–since when have red-blooded Americans been so hip to legality except on this issue? (which is essentially the same level of illegality as jay walking, but can be prosecuted with death) And don’t kid me that the fruit you eat, etc. has been harvested by legally documented immigrants–if that were the case it would be at least twice the price. The country is run on slave labor–the kind that growers, canners and factory farmers pay peanuts to–which would be under the watchful eye of labor laws if the workers were not undocumented. If there was to be any “turn back” it should be based on the mistreatment, hatred and outright feudal repression that actually happens to immigrants who come here looking for a better life and the possibility to feed their children. The hypocrisy is as astounding as the ignorance behind it.