Death Knows No Boundaries

Since 2006, 11,000 Mexican citizens have been murdered, with the majority of these deaths related to the dominace of drug cartels. The wave of violence has become so serious, that in February of 2009, a CNN article reported that Mexico is now spinning toward civil war.
Add in an economy in shambles (CNN also describes Mexico's financial structure as having "gone off a cliff"), and one doesn't have difficulty understanding why so many Mexicans are willing to risk their lives to cross the border into the United States.

While it is illegal to cross without first attaining the proper permission from authorities, I don't think it's a crime to want to live in a safe environment that gives opportunity and hope. And it is never a crime to provide humanitarian aid to a human in crisis.

The border fence was constructed as a strategy of deterrence. Officials believed that the incredibly harsh terrain, with its limited natural water sources, which immigrants funnel through would solve the border issue. 5,000 deaths later, immigrants are still risking their lives to come to this country.

With immigration reform being such a complex and volatile issue, it appears the border issue will not be solved any time soon. And with Mexico's poor economy and escalating violence, it seems unlikely that a resolution of illegal immigration is also not imminent. But what can, and must be stopped, are the needless deaths that can be prevented by distributing clean drinking water to border crossers. And what also must be stopped is giving littering tickets, which can carry severe penalties, to concerned U.S. citizens who are distributing life-saving water.

Three humanitarian aid groups, No More Deaths, Samaritans and Humane Borders have initiated a series of negotiations with the highest levels of the federal government to come to an agreement over this issue. Their mission is to convince officials at the Department of the Interior and Buenes Aires NWR that every effort will be made to remove any water bottles placed along border crossing trails, along with any additional items not native to the environment. More importantly, these humanitarian groups are hoping to convince officials that saving lives should never be considered a crime. Too many have died over this dipute already.