Updates

EMERGENCY REPORTS OPERATOR

Application Deadline: 02/15/2024

Start Date: 04/01/2024

Apply Here:  https://form.jotform.com/233065732269156

At No More Deaths we are seeking an Emergency Report Operator to join the Missing Persons Hotline Team who will work alongside the Crisis Hotline Operator, and will be responsible for contacting Border Patrol agents to request that searches for missing persons be initiated. In this team, they will collaborate with No More Deaths partners and other community groups on both sides of the border to respond to requests from family members searching for their missing loved ones and will provide humanitarian, civil and non-violent assistance for the missing persons crisis in the border areas.

About No More Deaths

We are a humanitarian organization based in southern Arizona. Our mission is to end migrant death and suffering through civil initiative and we work openly as a community to defend fundamental human rights.

About Team Projects and Events

Projects arise depending on the political climate at the border and the Hotline Team works as a group to divide responsibilities for projects that emerge based on the respective availability of resources.

In the event of an increase in the number of calls, team projects may be put on hold. Out-of-state events are subject to the capacity, ability and availability of each individual and will be communicated in advance. Some responsibilities include:

  • Maintaining a flexible schedule in order to be prepared and available to participate in community projects and team events local to Tucson.
  • Accompanying and supporting the community to their immigration court appointments depending on the capacity of the group.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Work will be performed from our Tucson office and remotely. Your duties will include:

  • Utilizing information and coordinates transmitted by the Hotline Operator to determine appropriate border patrol stations and make emergency reports.
  • Remaining calm, composed, undistracted, and in full control of cognitive abilities while maintaining adequate performance in stressful situations
  • Making calls to Border Patrol for emergency or active cases, and making emergency reports to Border Patrol and requesting searches for missing persons
  • Following up and maintaining communication every two hours with Border Patrol via phone and email
  • Maintaining communication with the Hotline Operator every two hours relaying information received from Border Patrol and updating them until the case is closed
  • Collecting and documenting appropriate information during all interactions and filing notes, recordings, logs, etc., as needed
  • Participating regularly and actively in group meetings by providing feedback on completed projects and projects in the planning stages
  • Attending training courses offered by the team to promote better job performance, or as needed, in order to stay informed on current operations, projects, and changes in the political climate
  • Collaborating with the team on various projects, as required or requested, periodically engaging with the community on humanitarian projects as needed
  • Maintaining consistent communication with the team, as well as the Line Operator, responding to messages via Signal and WhatsApp in a prompt and effective manner

REQUIREMENTS

  • Bilingual in English and Spanish
  • Residency local to Tucson
  • Ability to communicate comfortably and effectively with Border Patrol agents
  • Ability to handle high-stress situations and manage intense conversations
  • Ability to maintain composure and exercise restraint when verbally provocative, hostile or stressful interactions arise
  • Ability to work as a team player within the Crisis Hotline
  • Respectful communication with co-workers

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience using Signal and Whatsapp
  • Basic computer proficiency
  • Multitasking ability

CONTRACT CONDITIONS

  • 12-month contract with annual renewal option after qualitative assessment at three and six months. Includes a two-week training period and a 90-day paid observation period
  • 30 hours per week
  • Hotline Active Hours: 5am-9:30pm with 4-5 hour shifts per day. Monday-Friday and closed weekends.
  • Monthly salary of $20 per hour
  • Work material to be provided includes phone, laptop and hotspot

Our Package Includes

  • Hybrid model with 50% work from home
  • Flexible PTO and Winter Vacation
  • Medical and dental coverage

No More Deaths values diversity and strongly encourages people of color, people with disabilities, women and LGBTQ+ applicants to apply. 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 – thank you for your interest in this position!

THIS IS ALL DONE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE REST OF THE OPERATORS AND VOLUNTEERS.

News coverage
Link

COOLER TEMPERATURES BRING CONCERN FOR MIGRANTS WAITING TO BE PROCESSED NEAR LUKEVILLE BORDER

Emilee Miranda, 13 News, 4 January 2024

As temperatures continue to drop in Tucson, they are also declining in Lukeville as hundreds of asylum seekers wait along the wall to be processed by border patrol.

For months, thousands of migrants have been arriving in the Tucson sector. Many of them are sleeping and staying near the border wall until they can be transported elsewhere by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As the migrant surge continues, the fundraising coordinator for No More Deaths said they are concerned about the cooler temperatures.

“Lows are getting down into the low 30s coming up, and we’re seeing so many people who are in great danger of injury and death from exposure, so anything helps,” said Danielle, fundraising coordinator for No More Deaths.

Continue reading →
News coverage
Link

NO MORE DEATHS VOLUNTEERS EVACUATE MIGRANTS FROM ‘DIRE’ COLD AS CHRISTMAS NEARS IN REMOTE AZ DESERT

Paul Ingram, Tucson Sentinel, 24 December 2023

In the desert quiet, a little girl began to howl and cry. Her mother tried to comfort her, but they were both freezing, soaked to the bone in wet clothes and tucked beneath wide advertising banners tucked against the 30-foot-high wall miles in the desert wilderness east of Sasabe, Ariz.

All Friday—just days before Christmas— rain came down unabated and for a while lightning cracked across the sky. But, finally, the rain slowed to a drizzle and the moon pierced through clouds. As the girl cried, a volunteer with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization based in Southern Arizona, rushed from trucks parked in the mud to help.

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Press releases, Updates

Border Patrol Neglects Asylum Seekers in Winter Storm, Threatens Aid Workers with Arrest

The road along the border wall near Sasabe

SASABE, Arizona – Last night, humanitarian aid workers scrambled to triage and support 300 asylum seekers stranded along the border wall east of Sasabe, Arizona. A winter storm blew in, dumping rain upon the hundreds of men, women, children, and babies left without adequate shelter in the remote location. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, volunteers notified Border Patrol that they would be driving asylum seekers to the Sasabe substation to be processed, to get them out of the life-threatening cold.

Volunteers were told that this was illegal. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents refused to send personnel to the area, citing road conditions and limited space in vehicles as the reason for their lack of response. They advised volunteers to call 911 if there was a medical emergency.

The message from Border Patrol was loud and clear: you’re on your own.

Despite the constraints of providing humanitarian aid in a place where cell phone service is limited and the nearest ambulance is two hours away, humanitarian aid volunteers did place multiple calls to 911. Through the rainy day and the frigid night, no emergency services arrived.   “Without us volunteers everybody would have died. Everybody would have died,” one volunteer responding to the situation said. “With no tarps, no rain gear, no food, and no water, 300 adults, elders, and children could have died from exposure. We were a group of 8-15 volunteers triaging 300 people, trying to prevent hundreds of deaths. We cannot keep this up. We are not meant for this. We need bigger resources and responses.”  

There are still hundreds of people stranded along the wall, waiting to be picked up by Border Patrol.

News coverage
Link

“IT’S LIKE CAMPING WITHOUT A TENT”: IN REMOTE SCC, LARGE GROUPS OF MIGRANTS AWAIT BORDER PATROL

Angela Gervasi, Nogales International, 7 December 2023

Over a recent December weekend in a western corner of Santa Cruz County, a man from Morocco leaned on crutches as he attempted to trek through the desert. Stationed near the U.S.-Mexico border fence, other migrants lit small bonfires in an effort to counteract the dwindling temperatures of nightfall.

These are two of the scenes humanitarian volunteers recounted to the NI as they described a relatively new entry point for large groups of asylum-seeking migrants: a rugged area west of Nogales and east of Sásabe.

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Abuse documentation, News coverage
Link

NEW REPORT FINDS PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT HAS HISTORY OF NOT RESPONDING TO CALLS FROM LOST MIGRANTS

Danyelle Khmara, AZPM News, 20 November 2023

A new report found that the way the Pima County Sheriff’s Department responds to distress calls from undocumented migrants lost in the desert is discriminatory, violates the department’s own standards of conduct, and has led to deaths and disappearances that could have been avoided. The sheriff’s department disputes these findings.

Advocacy group No More Deaths reviewed more than two thousand 911 calls handled by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department from the summer of 2016 to the summer of 2018, a sample of 64 emergency calls transferred to Border Patrol in June 2022, and another 4 cases of English speakers calling for emergency search and rescue during the same month, which No More Deaths obtained under public records law.

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Abuse documentation, News coverage
Link

NO MORE DEATHS REPORT: “SEPARATE AND DEADLY” REVEALS DISCRIMINATORY 911 CALL SYSTEM IN US/MEXICO BORDERLANDS

ImmigrationProf Blog, 15 November 2023

Yesterday, No More Deaths released Separate and Deadly: Segregation of 911 Emergency Services in the Arizona Borderlands. The report is the latest installment of Disappeared, a four-part series that examines the Border Patrol’s role in the deaths and disappearances in the U.S./Mexico border region. Separate and Deadly analyzes the Pima County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Department’s emergency response system. The report finds vastly different responses to the distress calls on 911 of migrants based on their citizenship status. Migrant distress calls are routinely transferred to the Border Patrol, which No More Deaths says has “demonstrated a deadly negligence when it comes to emergency response and rescue.”  In 2023, the remains of 175 people have been found in Arizona. Countless more remain disappeared.

Abuse documentation, News coverage, Updates
Link

REPORT FINDS ARIZONA 911 DISPATCHERS FAIL TO HELP LOST MIGRANTS

Tanvi Misra, High Country News, 14 November 2023

On June 27, 2022, around 1:44 a.m., a man lost in the desert outside Tucson, Arizona called 911. An emergency services dispatcher for Pima County answered. The man, clearly distressed, tried to describe his surroundings and explain that he was lost, wet and freezing. But before he could finish, the dispatcher interrupted him, saying, “I don’t understand, un momento,” and abruptly transferred the call to the U.S. Border Patrol. The agent who picked up shushed the caller as he started to speak —“Cállate!” (“Be quiet!”) — and spoke to the dispatcher instead, in English. Then they hung up, leaving the man to the agent. An incident report suggests that no actions were taken to follow up or locate the lost caller: “No additional calls have come from the subject. … At this time the caller has not been identified and not located.” 

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