ABOUT US

ABOUT US

WHO WE ARE

WE ARE BORDER ANGELS

Border Angels is an all volunteer, non profit organisation that advocates for human rights, humane immigration reform, and social justice with a special focus on issues related to issues related to the US-Mexican border. Border Angels engages in community education and awareness programs that include guided trips to the desert to place water along migrant crossing routes as well as to the border to learn about the history of US-Mexico border policy and experience the border fence firsthand.

Border Angels also works to serve San Diego County’s immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs such as Day Laborer outreach and our free legal assistance program held in our office every Tuesday. Border Angels works to dispel the various myths surrounding immigration in the United States and to bring back truth and justice.

HISTORY

1986

The “spark” that started the Border Angels work, a trip to the canyons with North County Church in Carlsbad where Enrique saw children, women and families living.

1993

In response to the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles REENCUENTRO was born. Along with Armando Charles and Magda Rojas, 15,000 people came to the LA Convention centre to promote we are on race, the Human Race. Continued visits to the canyons in North County.

1994

After meeting Ethel Kennedy in Los Angeles, Enrique returns to San Diego. Proposition 187, NAFTA, Sub Comandante Marcos, and Operation Gatekeeper spark national protests. Roberto Martinez and Enrique team up.

VISION

Our work is driven by these words: “When I was hungry, who gave me to eat? – When I was thirsty, who gave me to drink?” (Matthew 25:35). In this we make it our mission to ensure that all people are received with a sense of humanity and compassion, and that the cycle of death along the border does not continue into the coming years.

MISSION

Border Angels’ mission is to reduce the number of fatalities occurring along the Californian border through the placement of life saving water stations in the desert. Since the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, there has been a steady increase in the militarisation of the United States/Mexico border, primarily due to the implementation of Operation Gatekeeper.

Many years of devastating economic and immigration policies have created a situation where thousands of people from Mexico and Latin America risk their lives each year crossing into the United States in the hope of finding a better life.

In the years since the inception of Operation Gatekeeper, an estimated 10,000 people have lost their lives during the journey due to extreme weather, lack of food and water, and the overall perilous nature of the trip.

WHAT WE DO

Spring and Summer Months: With horrifically hot temperature conditions, hundreds of rescue stations are located along the ten state US Mexico border region. Temperatures reaching as high as 127 degrees, water is critical for survival. Volunteers maintain stations throughout the spring and summer months.
Fall and Winter Months: Critical life-saving stations are established throughout the San Diego Mountain areas. Winter clothing, food and water are placed in winter storage bins to help decrease negative health results from being exposed to the incredibly freezing temperature changes that exists in the San Diego County mountain areas during the Fall and Winter.