Walking the path illegal

It sounded like approaching thunder.
But in the desert between the Mexican cities of Sasabe and Nogales, Central Virginia residents Jeff Winder and Sue Frankel-Streit knew it couldn’t be a storm. They soon realized it was people — the sounds of migrants risking their lives to reach the U.S. border.
Frankel-Streit and Winder walked in their footsteps, hoping to draw attention to Mexicans’ plight and to what they say are failed economic policies that drive Mexicans to leave their homes. So they carried water and sleeping bags and made the three-day, 37-mile trek themselves on the last weekend in April. Their progress was slowed early on, when Winder twisted his knee on the uneven terrain. They also dealt with the extreme heat and treacherous conditions along the trail.
Just doing their part as white people, they said, to stand up for their neighbors to the south.
“One big surprise is that we didn’t get arrested,” Frankel-Streit said. “It just proves the privilege of white skin.”
They made themselves easy targets, marching through the militarized border with a banner that read “Mexico to Virginia Open Borders & Justice for All.” They weren’t stopped by Border Patrol.
The pair returned last week and marched in Washington with thousands to protest American immigration laws.
The two activists recently began to focus almost solely on immigration. Frankel-Streit works on a Catholic commune in Louisa County and Winder, a Nelson County resident, does painting, carpentry and landscaping jobs to pay the bills.
Winder leads The People United, an activist group that works on immigration issues. He said he doesn’t believe many in economically depressed Mexico have much of a choice but to come here, calling the immigration issue “forced migration.” The North American Free Trade Agreement has driven down prices and forced Mexicans to seek a substantially better living in the United States, he said.
“Today, immigrants are the convenient target” for failed economic policies, he said.
Christian Schoenewald, chairman of the Albemarle GOP, says illegal immigrants aren’t unfairly targeted.
“Every other country in the world secures their borders,” Schoenewald said. “It’s not a conservative-liberal issue.” He said holes that allow immigrants into the U.S. need to be filled — such as cracking down on businesses that employ illegal immigrants — before other solutions are pursued.
Aside from the economic debate, Frankel-Streit and Winder see the human side of immigration. A pair of shoes that were left behind was one particularly poignant reminder of what people risk, they said, along with the candles that formed shrines to those who have died on such journeys.
“Some of these images tell such a tragic story,” Frankel-Streit said. But Winder and Frankel-Streit said they were particularly struck by the juxtaposition of a beautiful landscape with the stark reminders of devastation.
“It was incredibly beautiful,” Frankel-Streit said. “It made it all the more depressing.”
The two made the trek at a time when fewer are trying it. Officials say the U.S. economic downturn, tighter security and a more perilous and expensive journey are persuading many who try to sneak into the U.S. to give up sooner.
Border Patrol arrests are down 17 percent so far this year along the U.S.-Mexico border after falling 20 percent all of last fiscal year and 8 percent the year before that. While it’s impossible to know how many people are crossing illegally, the patrol uses apprehensions to estimate the ebb and flow of traffic.
The downturn in illegal immigration has created labor shortages throughout the United States, and several states are considering temporary-worker programs, especially in agricultural fields, where produce is spoiling in the fields.
Frankel-Streit and Winder said Virginia is a good example of a place that is seeing huge immigrant populations prompt what they consider to be hostile reactions from federal and local authorities. Winder said federal raids in parts of Virginia are becoming more and more common, and his group will work to help family members find their loved ones as well as coordinate protests against such actions.
“We’re seeing this problem growing rapidly,” Winder said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.