At southern border, Boylen learns how ‘one person can do so much’

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

“I’m well aware I’m only one person, but at the same time, I know that matters,” said Scott Boylen.

It was this desire to help others—and curiosity to view conditions for himself—that drove the local resident and educator to volunteer at the United States/Mexico border last winter and again this summer.

Boylen said he’s long seen people from Latin America arrive in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin, often working jobs others don’t want to fill. 

“They’re filling holes in our labor force and, often times, being talked about negatively and treated poorly,” he stated. Narrow media reports and increased politicization of people crossing the southern border further feed that narrative. 

Yet, said Boylen, “I knew a lot of families from that region and had taught their children, and they were all great people. I knew there was a lot of mixed messaging that wasn’t accurate. I wanted to do something about it.”

A friend who works at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, the only U.S. national park on the southern border, introduced him to Humane Borders, an apolitical humanitarian organization whose mission is to keep people from dying in the desert.

“It’s not helping people cross the border,” Boylen stressed.

The organization welcomed support. At that time, around Christmas, they were swamped by asylum seekers crossing the border.

“People seeking asylum are generally from Central America, South America, Africa or Southeast Asia,” Boylen said. “They are coming here because of climate change or instability in their countries. They are in search of something better, which also feeds back into why I went down there. I’ve always been a history buff, and I’m well aware I come from immigrants. Anyone who’s not an indigenous person in this country is an immigrant. People have been migrating here for a very long time, and they still are.”

When Boylen arrived in December, the Lukeville Port of Entry was closed, restricting travel between Arizona and Mexico. But even the border wall didn’t deter those seeking access to the U.S. 

“Seeing the border wall the first time is really weird. They built this billion-dollar structure along the border and it takes less than a minute to cut one of the bollards, or columns, off with a cutting wheel on a cordless, 4-inch grinder,” he explained. 

U.S. Border Patrol picks up those who make it through and processes them. But it can take these routinely overworked officials hours to get to people. 

“Asylum seekers would often be let through the border miles and miles from where Border Patrol was located, and then they’d have to walk,” Boylen said.

The desert in December was cold at night, dipping to the mid- to low-30s. Though it never snowed, the weather was rainy. 

“When I was first down there, we saw hundreds of people, a whole bunch of kids and little children with their moms,” Boylen recalled. “It was early morning, the middle of a rain that was cold and wet, and they were walking along the border, waiting to be picked up by Border Patrol.”

He and other volunteers, which included some grad and doctoral students but largely retirees, distributed water, mylar blankets, granola bars and band-aids. 

“We helped them warm up, gave a tiny bit of food and tried to put them under a canopy to keep them dry,” Boylen said. “They waited about six hours after having slept overnight in the desert. And that’s at the end of an incredibly long journey because they were from El Salvador.”

Boylen spent seven days there, filling water barrels, handing out water and food and helping with first aid for messed up feet or blisters. 

“The gratitude they had for any simple thing was amazing,” he said.

One scene, in particular, sticks in his mind. It was Christmas Eve, and families sat on gravel along the border wall overnight, awaiting the arrival of Border Patrol in the morning.

“I was handing out mylar blankets, and we only had enough for the little kids and the moms. There was a lady sitting on the gravel road against the wall nursing her baby on Christmas Eve. I was raised Catholic, and it made me think back,” Boylen said. “This is the way our country is treating an immigrant mother and her baby. It seems like an absolute, utter failure of our system.”

The experience energized Boylen to do more. With time off this summer, the teacher returned to the border, volunteering again with Human Borders but also near the end of the border wall with Samaritans, which focuses on what he called “off-the-beaten-path things.” This included placing water in the desert where they thought migrants might travel.

“I saw fewer humans, but the temperatures are unbelievable. People tend to move at night,” he explained. 

In a change since his previous visit, an executive order issued by President Joe Biden put a quota on the number of people who could come into the U.S. There was a quick turnaround of people coming across the border, with Border Patrol picking them up as fast as they could. Boylen said a worry was many migrants would head north into the desert.

“The desert is huge and there’s nothing out there. Some of the places we went to were what I would call a dry ditch. During the rainy season, in July and August, heavy rains would wash down it, but they are low spots people would walk in because there’s less growing there,” he shared. “We left water in spots and saw water bottles and things people left behind, like socks or a backpack.”

While Boylen was there, five bodies were found in the desert. The individuals died of exposure or hyperthermia—being too warm for too long. 

“So the main objective is to stop people from dying a miserable death,” Boylen said. “It’s crazy people are forced to that to come and work on a farm or a meat processing plant.”

Boylen valued learning about some of the migrants. One couple was fleeing Senegal because of climate change. They could no longer grow food and there were no jobs. They came through Nicaragua, then Mexico, in a three-month journey to the border. 

“[The man] said he learned Spanish in three months. A lot of these people have amazing abilities,” Boylen said, “but the thought in my mind was ‘they’re going to deport you.’ Then they’re going to try again, because they can’t go all the way back to Senegal. They’re going to be in Mexico in a shelter, which I visited this time too. All the people I saw were hoping to come to the United States because they have nothing.” 

“When I saw it up close and personal, I did not feel like any of these people were anything but caring and compassionate people looking for a better life for their family. It’s heart wrenching,” he reflected.

Also heart wrenching, said Boylen, is the cartels who prey on individuals’ desires for a better life. The “business in people” has become more lucrative than even smuggling drugs across the border, which occurs less often now, he noted.

“What you hear from the people who are coming is that it costs them a lot of money. If you’re coming from Africa, it’s thousands of dollars to be flown, usually to Nicaragua. Then they’re told they can ride a bus up to the border, or the train. What it amounts to is riding a bus that will be stopped by Mexican police and immigration officials, and if they get caught, they’re going to get deported or put into jail,” Boylen detailed. “The cartel puts them in houses along the way, finds them rides, but everything costs money. Then they go into debt and their families have to send them more money. It’s a racket. They are making tons of money off very desperate people.”

Boylen hopes to return to the border again.

“It pulls me now,” he said.

In the time being, Boylen is content sharing his experience with others, including through public presentations. He acknowledged some venues or groups have been leery about  having him speak because the topic of immigration is so politically charged. They fear how others will perceive it.

“I’m not afraid of that. I feel like I have truth on my side,” he said. “Everything I saw was different than the majority of what I’ve heard. It’s more powerful than anything I’ve seen on TV.”

Boylen invites others to open their hearts and minds—to be kind to others.

“I’ve had some negative things happen in my life, but nothing like these people go through,” he said. “These people have nothing other than the clothes on their back and a backpack that gets taken away by Border Patrol. I see this as an opportunity to help them, not to be afraid.”

The other takeaway: abandon the defeatist notion that one person can only do so much.

“One guy I worked with this time is 75, retired, and he thought about that a lot while carrying six gallons of water, four in a backpack and two in his hands, walking through the desert to leave them for people who might need them. He said, ‘It’s a great experiment to think about changing one word in that saying and taking “only” out, so it becomes “One person can do so much.”’ I think that’s totally true,” Boylen said. “I feel I’ve done something, and will definitely go back.”