Every year, hundreds of immigrants die along the border between Mexico and the U.S. Many of them have lost their way and run out of water in the often-scorching desert heat. The number of deaths has soared this year because of a blistering heat wave and, in Arizona at least, new restrictions on illegal immigrants have forced border-crossers to seek out more remote, and therefore more dangerous, routes. Now, thanks to a new GPS application for mobile telephones, travelers can find their way to water stations created by Border Angels, an American humanitarian organization that offers help to immigrants.
All border-crossers have to do is say the word “agua” (Spanish for “water”) into their telephones, which then vibrate when pointed the direction of a Border Angels water station. The application also offers survival tips and spoken poetry with themes like perseverance and hospitality.
This “Transborder Immigrant Tool” (TBT) is an initiative of Ricardo Dominguez, a researcher and associate professor in the visual arts department at the University of California, San Diego. His project should not be seen as a political statement, Dominguez stresses. “It’s a geo-poetic tool that helps explain a difficult social issue in an aesthetic frame in the public sphere.”
The application can be downloaded and works on the inexpensive Motorola phones that sell briskly in cities along the Mexican side of the border. “This is not your ultimate guide” to a safe arrival in America, Dominguez says. “This is only useful for the last mile.” He would like to collaborate on similar applications for African refugees trying to enter Europe.
Critics claim the TBT helps people who violate American law by entering the country without proper documentation. “It’s not illegal to leave water in the desert,” Dominguez says, “and it’s certainly not illegal to tell people where the water is.” Critics also believe that the university, which provided $10,000 in funding for the project, should not have offered support. “The money spent on this tool is nothing considering its value,” according to Dominguez, who says his critics lack ethical values. “It may actually decrease the human death toll.”
Great write-up and highly informative article. I will be returning soon