All posts by No More Deaths

Open Positions, Updates

Position Available: Search & Rescue (SAR) Logistics Coordinator

Application Due Date: January 14, 2022
Hours Per Week: 30 hours

Job Description:
In an effort to provide a humanitarian, nonviolent and civil response to the crisis of missing persons in the borderlands. The Community Search and Rescue (SAR) Team works directly with the Missing Persons Hotline Team as well as other organizations to respond to reports of missing loved ones within the Southern Arizona and New Mexico area.

Role Responsibilities:

  • Conduct training on mapping, technology management, etc.
  • Provide leadership and direction to all volunteers.
  • For the small percentage of cases that are appropriate for the NMD SAR team to respond to this position, take responsibility for:
    • Keeping all necessary equipment in stock and ready for a SAR.
    • Keeping SAR vehicles in good working order and ready for a SAR.
    • Communication with the authorities in the cases in which the lost person and / or their family is requesting it.
    • Post-search report and documentation of lessons learned.
  • For the small percentage of cases where friends or family members of a missing person come to the area to attempt a search themselves, this position will be as follows:
    • Communication with all active volunteers to assess the support available to offer.
    • Communication with the hotline operator or directly with family / friends.
    • Coordination of consultations on the area and appropriate search methods.
    • Support for the search for permits or access to land.
    • Post-search report and documentation of lessons learned.
  • Communicate with allied groups about active searches and share resources.
  • Support current team members in their efforts to create educational tools and resources as needed.

Requirements:

  • Must live or be near Tucson.
  • Fluency in written and spoken English and Spanish is required.
  • Basic skill in using a computer, with an emphasis on Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice spreadsheets and Google Earth.
  • Be willing and able to communicate with law enforcement agencies when necessary and when consent is given for their participation in an ongoing SAR.
  • A wish to work collectively and to follow group agreements.

Contract Conditions:

  • 1 year contract with option to renew.
  • 30 hours per week/ $16 an hour.
  • Training provided.
  • Cell phone and computer provided by NMD, to be used for job purposes only.
  • Full time employees of NMD have access to health and dental insurance.

No More Deaths strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants. Individuals with personal ties to the border or who identify as coming from an affected community are especially encouraged to apply. U.S citizenship is not a requirement. No More Deaths is an equal-opportunity employer. Thanks for your interest in this position!

Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/213476904082154

Updates

Position Available: Missing Persons Hotline Coordinator

Application Due Date: January 7, 2022
Hours Per Week: 40 hours

Job Description:
Collaborate with NMD partners and other community groups on both sides of the border to respond to requests from family members searching for missing loved ones and provide a humanitarian, civil, non-violent response to the missing persons crisis in the borderlands. In 2014, we launched a search and rescue (SAR) task force to increase our efforts to strengthen the coalition, increase capacity and formalize cross-border collaboration.

Role Responsibilities:

  • Receiving calls and channeling to different organizations (consulate, immigration, sheriff or non-governmental organizations).
  • Respond to emails dealing with missing persons cases.
  • Prioritize applicable cases to the SAR No More Deaths team.
  • Database: compile and enter information for case tracking.
  • Informational brochures: produce and distribute brochures in physical form and electronic media (email, social media etc.
  • Monthly report: Provide information on calls answered, how many cases have been closed, how many are being followed up, how many successful rescues have taken place, information on projects completed and projects in planning.
  • Community Assembly: Plan, organize and encourage community participation for upcoming projects.
  • Meetings with NMD: Provide bi-weekly report updates, participate in meetings and trainings.
  • New volunteer onboarding: Assist with outreach and training (or facilitation of training sessions) of new team members to expand the team
  • Hotline Volunteer: Facilitate communication between hotline volunteers to organize meetings, initiate and participate in chat groups and email threads. As well as create tools to enhance collaboration among members such as schedules, schedules, and schedules for new members.
  • SAR Community Team: Be in contact with other SAR groups in the borderlands and be aware of ways to be in solidarity with them when possible. Research and be in contact with other organizations and resources. When the SAR team is mobilized this role could be integrated or help coordinate from Tucson.
  • Coordinate liaison and training of new members and update the volunteer roster.
  • Lead SAR team communication as needed.
  • Document team activity including post-search reports and examples of discriminatory practices by law enforcement.
  • Handling communication with government institutions (consulate, immigration, sheriff etc.) to request their participation in an active search and rescue, when permission is obtained from the family of the missing person. And dealing with media requests.

Requirements:

  • Must live or be near Tucson.
  • Fluency in written and spoken Spanish.
  • Willingness to organize and participate in community presentations.
  • Create ways to reach out to more volunteers.
  • Experience with search and rescue and/or a crisis hotline.
  • Basic computer skills with an emphasis on proficiency in Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice spreadsheets and Google Earth.

Contract Conditions:

  • 1 year contract with option to renew
  • 40 hours per week/ $16 an hour
  • Training provided
  • Cell phone and computer provided by NMD, to be used for job purposes only
  • Full time employees of NMD have access to health and dental insurance

No More Deaths strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants. Individuals with personal ties to the border or who identify as coming from an affected community are especially encouraged to apply. U.S citizenship is not a requirement. No More Deaths is an equal-opportunity employer. Thanks for your interest in this position!

Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/213486844448164

Updates

Position Available: Hotline & SAR Volunteer Coordinator

Application Deadline: November 29, 2021
Start Date: December 13, 2021

Hours: 30 hours per week

Job Description: Within the “No More Deaths” organization, the Volunteer Coordinator is responsible for increasing the number of volunteers in our humanitarian aid work in the border areas. The coordinator’s main responsibility is to recruit and create ways to sustain volunteer efforts. Along with other tasks and responsibilities, the Coordinator is asked to prepare and implement a “Volunteer Program” for our Search & Recovery and Disappeared Persons Hotline teams.

Responsibilities:

Outreach Volunteer Program (60%):

  • Represents NMD as a spokesperson for interested volunteers
  • Ensures that dates, applications, and reference forms are posted on the NMD website; at least 3 months in advance of any given program
  • Follow up with volunteer applications and the review process for those applications
  • Expands exposure of both SAR/Hotline
  • Communicates with interested, accepted, and declined volunteers
  • Provides clear and up-to-date inductive information to newly arrived volunteers
  • Adds new volunteers to the calendar, along with the logistics coordinator ensures that calendars are organized and up to date
  • When requested will act as point of contact to collect volunteer concerns and questions. The coordinator will be responsible for logging them and forwarding them to the working group.
  • Coordinates reports for outgoing volunteers; will share necessary feedback to the working group.

General Coordination of NMD Volunteers (25%):

  • Create and manage volunteer group chat through Signal.

Administration and Continuing Education (15%):

  • Ensures all materials are up to date and translated
  • Create and update volunteer applications and important documents for SAR & Hotline as needed

REQUIREMENTS

  • Strong oral and written communication skills
  • Fluent in Spanish and English
  • Self-motivated, ability to identify issues and come up with innovative solutions
  • Prior knowledge or ability to learn Office software used by No More Deaths, including: e-mail, file sharing, spreadsheets, presentations, Listserve and shared calendars.
  • LOCAL TO TUCSON OR WILLING TO RELOCATE

CONTRACT CONDITIONS

  • 30 hours per week, at $16/hr
  • 1 year contract with option to renew
  • Cell phone and computer provided by NMD, to be used for job purposes only
  • Employees of NMD have access to health and dental insurance
  • Transportation costs related to NMD outreach work will be reimbursed

No More Deaths strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants. Individuals with personal ties to the border or who identify as coming from an affected community are especially encouraged to apply. U.S citizenship is not a requirement. No More Deaths is an equal-opportunity employer. Thanks for your interest in this position!

Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/212004858633150

Press releases, Updates

Second Military Style Raid in Two Months: Border Patrol detains 12 people receiving humanitarian aid

Arivaca, AZ: After sunset on October 5th, US Border Patrol entered No More Deaths’ humanitarian aid station, Byrd Camp with a federal warrant, for a second nighttime raid in two months. Volunteers were held for 3 hours while 12 people who were receiving medical care, food, water, and shelter from the 100+ degree heat were detained.

In a massive show of armed force, Border Patrol, along with the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), descended on the camp with an armored tank, ATVS, a helicopter, and many marked and unmarked vehicles. Agents armed with assault rifles chased and terrorized those that were receiving care, all while the helicopter hovered low above them kicking up dust and debris, making it nearly impossible to see. Border patrol smashed windows, broke doors, and destroyed essential camp infrastructure as well as supplies.This was after heavily surveilling the camp and patrolling its perimeter, creating an antagonistic and distressing environment for those receiving care, since late Saturday night on the 3rd.

Since the previous raid on July 31st, Border Patrol has refused on multiple occasions to meet with volunteers to discuss previous shared agreements that upheld the right to provide humanitarian aid. The sector chief sent No More Deaths representatives a formal letter asserting this refusal. 
 

Border Patrol’s continual surveillance and harassment of Byrd Camp keeps patients from receiving essential care. This criminalization of the humanitarian aid and medical care we provide is only a furtherance of the agency’s deadly policies. Border Patrol detains people in unsafe and deadly facilities where medical neglect is rampant and human rights abuses are well documented.

Paige Corich Kleim, a volunteer present for the raid yesterday said this about the previous raid in late July  “Once again, Border Patrol is concentrating their resources on interfering with humanitarian aid during the most deadly time of year for people crossing the border, People are dying in the desert because of border enforcement policy, and now Border Patrol wants to prevent people from accessing life-saving assistance. We view this as a clear violation of international humanitarian law.”
 

Since 2004, Byrd Camp has been a location where people crossing through the harsh Sonoran Desert can find food, water, medical care, and respite. Byrd Camp has always operated openly and transparently and offered humanitarian aid according to Red Cross protocols. No More Deaths affirms the right of all people, regardless of nationality, to give and receive humanitarian aid. Our volunteers are specifically trained to respect autonomy when providing care as is standard practice in the medical field and only call 911 and Border Patrol with patient consent. We will continue to be a presence in the desert as long as Border Patrol policies create a crisis of death and disappearance. 

Press releases, Updates

Military style raid: border patrol detains 30+ people receiving care at humanitarian aid station

Arivaca, AZ: Around sunset on July 31st, US Border Patrol raided No More Deaths’ humanitarian aid station, Byrd Camp, detaining over thirty people who were receiving medical care, food, water, and shelter from the 100+ degree heat. In a massive show of force, Border Patrol, along with BORTAC, descended on the camp with an armored vehicle, three ATVS, two helicopters, and an estimated 24 marked and unmarked vehicles.

Agents refused to show a warrant upon entry, and were not wearing masks. For two hours, in darkness, they detained and chased people receiving care while a Border Patrol cameraman filmed the scene. The day before, agents had entered the property without a warrant and detained one person receiving care. Border Patrol then set up 24-hour surveillance around the perimeter, deterring anyone else from entering the camp to seek help.

Last night’s military style raid on the aid station is a clear example of Border Patrol’s deadly pattern of interfering with humanitarian aid. Many No More Deaths volunteers work as EMTs, paramedics, nurses, and doctors. Volunteers are trained to respect the autonomy of individuals receiving care — as is standard practice in the medical field, they only call 911 and Border Patrol with patient consent. All persons at camp had been medically evaluated, were stable, and were receiving continuous care.

The initial detention and surveillance of Byrd Camp was set up just 24 hours after No More Deaths released emails from a FOIA request revealing the role of BORTAC — the tactical unit recently mobilized against protestors throughout the United States — and the Border Patrol Union’s role in a 2017 raid of the same aid station.

Border Patrol previously raided Byrd camp in 2017, which predates Dr. Scott Warren’s arrest for providing humanitarian aid to two individuals. Warren was arrested just hours after No More Deaths released a report detailing Border Patrol’s interference with humanitarian aid, along with a video that went viral showing agents destroying water gallons. The message is clear: expose Border Patrol abuses, face retaliation

“Yesterday, Border Patrol harmed thirty people in irreparable ways. On a daily basis those who migrate through the Arizona desert are targeted, terrorized, detained, and deported.” Said Dr. Scott Warren, “Last night we witnessed these tactics deployed against people who sought medical care and relief at our Byrd Camp aid station. As always when humanitarian aid in the borderlands is targeted, those who seek care are the ones that face the brunt of these violent escalations.”now