I spent this past weekend in southern Arizona, working with a humanitarian group that provides water, food and dry socks to immigrants passing along the trails of the Sonoran desert.

I know the issue of immigrant crossing is not a popular one. And I know that most people feel that providing water to immigrants encourages, perhaps even entices them to cross the border.

But after my journey into this world of trekking through incredibly rough terrain to deliver water to people who are traveling through land that is so hard to navigate that we had to rely upon a seasoned guide with detailed trail maps and GPS, I realized that setting out these rudimentary supplies would NEVER encourage anyone to cross the border. I have lived in the Sonoran desert for over 20 years. I know how hot it gets and how much you rely upon water to survive. And I've always worked out and considered myself to be in decent shape. I've run a half marathon and numerous other races without so much as a sore muscle.

But this was different. This was real--carrying as much water as your back muscles could bear, feeling I was holding up my group whenever I had to stop for that extra sip of hydration, skinning my hands as I slipped on a rocky slope.

The journey from the Mexican border is at best 4 days, over mountainous terrain, rocky dry washes and thistled brush that tears at your skin. With the chances of dehydration, heat exhaustion, injury from a fall, and arrest--you know these people are desperate to get out. And after experiencing my weekend along the border, I know that humanitarian groups who supply life-saving measures are not encouraging immigrants to cross the border, they're only giving them one last hope.