Borders Crossing Home: Sanctuary, Life, and Death on Turtle Island

Mike Wilson, co-author, Which Side Are You On? A Tohono O’odham Life Across Borders (UNC Press 2024), in conversation with sanctuary movement figure Dora Rodriguez, director, Salvavision. 

In a life-saving attempt to flee El Salvador’s civil war in 1980, Dora Rodriguez was one of thirteen survivors found near death while crossing the border through the Sonora Desert. In the decades following Dora Rodriguez’s crossing, with increased militarization of the US-Mexico border, migrant deaths have surged, a feature of “prevention through deterrence” (PTD) the U.S. border enforcement strategy first launched in the mid-1990s. The concentration of enforcement leads many migrants to journey across more remote areas, including the Tohono O’odham Nation. When Mike Wilson's religious and ethical commitments led him to set up water stations for migrants on the Nation's lands, it brought him into conflict not only with the US government but also with his own tribal and religious communities. Learn about Dora Rodriguez and Mike Wilson’s civil initiatives to save life and transform the borderlands.

This is an event of the Spring 2025 Social Justice Academy: Home, Place, and Housing Justice. Learn more about the academy and RSVP for additional speakers, creative workshops, and action events by clicking here. Visit Politics and Human Rights for more information about the major and minor. For more information, write to socialjustice@mmm.edu.

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