Central Michigan University

CMU prof walks 75 miles for immigration policies

Monday, May 12, 2008

Topics in this story: American politics and society, College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures

RSS Print

Media Contact(s):

Heather Smith
989-774-1702

Program Contact(s):

Christi Brookes
989-774-3740

This summer, Central Michigan University faculty member Christi Brookes will endure her second seven-day, 75-mile walk to address immigration policies in the U.S.

Brookes, a CMU assistant professor of French, first took part in the "Migrant Trail: We Walk for Life" in the summer of 2007. The project is a coalition of groups that march from Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, to Tucson, Ariz., to raise awareness of the deaths that occur in the Tucson border sector area due to changes in U.S. border control policies and to bring attention to immigration policies. The number of migrant bodies recovered from the area reached 237 between 2006 and 2007.

"We saw signs of tragedy all over the desert, making us realize how many people die trying to make better lives for themselves," said Brookes, a native of Calgary, Alberta, who grew up in the Phoenix area. She joined the walk because of how important the region is to her. "I wondered what made these people so desperate as to leave their families and risk their lives to start over in our country."

Three people started the first Migrant Trail walk in 2004 as an act of solidarity with migrants and to raise awareness about the deaths and plight that migrants face. The number of walkers grew to 55 in 2007. Many organizations take part in planning the walk each year, including The Human Rights Coalition and Humane Borders, which provide support vehicles, unlimited food and water, and medical attention for the walkers. This year's walk will take place May 26 through June 1.

Courtesy photo










"This was an eye-opening experience in so many different ways and one of the most meaningful things I have ever done in my life," said Brookes. "I am still trying to make sense of it all."

Brookes uses her experience to bring light to immigration policies in her French civilization classes by relating the issues in the U.S. to similar issues in France.

"Immigration is just as hot of a topic in France as it is in the U.S.," said Brookes. "I try to get foreign language students to picture themselves in the eyes of other cultures, and this experience helps me do that."