Hope for humanity: It's encouraging to read an article with so many of the people I admire in it. People like Dan Millis and Laura Ilardo have been my greatest source of inspiration. The members of No More Deaths are the true heroes of the immigration movement.
It is an indisputable fact that white Americans have migrated to Arizona at a rate of more than 60 percent while all others (including those crossing the desert) have migrated at a rate of approximately 30 percent since 1980. How can anyone deny who the real invaders are? Who is really responsible for the mess this state is in?
Groups like No More Deaths give humanity hope. Humanitarian aid is never a crime but is the responsibility of all of us.
If we continue to support the current border policies, it will destroy us financially. It already has morally. It's time to rethink what we have become as a nation. More of the same will only cause more deaths. Death as a deterrence is an obscenely cruel policy.
We need humane solutions. The militaristic ones have obviously failed. Humane ones are cheaper, better for the environment, and better for our souls. No human Being is illegal.
Dennis Gillman, Scottsdale
Human rights and dignity: Finally, the media is giving No More Deaths the credit it deserves. What right-wingers don't understand is that it's not about politics to the humanitarians — it's about human rights and dignity.
No More Deaths is merely realistic. No matter how much the U.S. government and many of its citizens disagree, there is no way of stopping all those Mexicans from coming here. So-called illegals have no choice; their families are starving in Mexico. And, more to the point, the government has no workable plan to keep them out, no matter how many walls and fences get built.
So groups like NMD leave water for the inevitable exodus. We're talking about human beings here, no matter how much the crackers hate them!
Al Garcia, Glendale
Speaking of crackers . . .: The truth is, these so-called humanitarians are aiding in the commission of crimes by leaving their water in the desert. There's no two ways about it!
If they didn't do this, it would be harder for the illegals to make it to Phoenix and beyond, and that would be a good thing. Sure, many of them would die, but that's the price they pay for breaking our laws.
John Thomas, Phoenix
Blood and water: No doubt about it, dude. Blood is indeed thicker than water.
Justin Whitmore, Phoenix
Those who count?: I don't agree with the idea that illegal immigrants deserve help. Just because they put themselves in peril doesn't mean I need to pull their nuggets out of the fire — or be coerced into feeling sorry for them.
Are any of the people applying Band-Aids to this problem spending as much time/effort/money curing the actual ill, which is the Mexican government's policies that precipitate this mass exodus from our southern neighbor? Bet not.
There are three types of people in the world: those that count and those that don't.
C. Payne, Tempe
Apartheid in Arizona: My heart goes out to the family of the poor little girl who sent her brother ahead, telling him that she was the big sister and that he should leave her behind. That child's death is blood on the hands of the U.S. government.
The government must figure out a sane border policy that is not enforcement-based. What's being done is not working, and people are dying.
For those who harp that Mexicans shouldn't come here until they have gotten green cards, well, it's nearly impossible for a Mexican to come here legally. Check it out, and then shut up!
Reforming Mexico so that citizens there have prosperity — and thereby don't come here — is also impossible. I hear ignorant nativists say that all the time, too. Wake up!
Truth is, undocumented workers contribute to our economy in Arizona. Maricopa County is suffering all the more economically because of all the apartheid efforts of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others.
Michael George, Phoenix
An ugly chapter of American history: This is a wonderful article! It brought me to tears often because my heart broke to read stories of children leaving their dying mother or sister behind and stories of the undeterred conviction of volunteers.
I truly hope that God will reward all the No More Deaths volunteers for their valiant efforts and service.
This is such an ugly chapter in American history, and we have not told the story enough. Congratulations to Stephen Lemons for telling it.
Name withheld
