The Migrant Trail walk ended on Sunday morning after a 75-mile journey from Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, to Tucson, Arizona. This powerful event, held every year for over 20 years, honors the lives of migrants who died or went missing while trying to cross the US–Mexico border.
More than 40 people, both young and old, took part in the week-long walk this year. The goal was to raise awareness about the dangers faced by migrants in the desert and to highlight the policies that have forced many to take deadly routes.
Jamie Wilson, a long-time organizer with Migrant Trail, said the walk is a way to remember the more than 8,000 people who have died trying to cross the border since the 1990s. Over 4,000 of those remains were found in Arizona alone, with 154 discovered just last year in Pima County.
“These people didn’t have a safe way to enter,” Wilson explained. “Our border policies pushed them into dangerous conditions, and many paid with their lives.”
Wilson described the journey as emotional and physically demanding. She said it takes a strong community to walk through the desert and reflect on what migrants may have felt in their final hours.
Karen Coronado Martinez joined the walk for the first time. She said she did it in memory of her father, who made a similar journey 10 years ago, and for all the people who still have no voice in the immigration debate.
“I hate that we have to do this walk just to get attention,” she said. “We’ve been doing it for 22 years now, and I fear we may be doing it for 22 more.”
Martinez also helps children through her work with a nonprofit that supports immigrant families. Some of them still believe their missing parents are out in the desert. That heartbreaking reality motivates her to keep fighting for change.
Wilson said they will continue the walk every year until something changes. “We’ll keep walking until people stop dying at the border,” she said.