In 1994 the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated Operation Gatekeeper, a program that militarized the border, pushing people into dangerous routes while crossing from Mexico to California. This strategy has proved to be quite deadly: over 450 people have died trying to cross this border - a 600% increase in rate of death - since Gatekeeper began.

In memory and in protest of these tragic and needless deaths at the border, several U.S. and Mexican groups created a poignant art project. They prepared hundreds of wooden crosses for display at the border wall in Tijuana during the celebrations for Dia de Los Muertos in the fall of 1998 and 1999.

The border crosses were later exhibited in Mexico City's Zocalo during the meetings between President Clinton and President Zedillo in February 1999. The crosses were set up in the design of three people running, the familiar sign along many of San Diego's freeways. They have also been displayed in San Diego's Chicano Park, and are traveling to various states in southern Mexico throughout 1999.

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The group of students from Merritt College (Oakland) who participated in Exploring California's Beyond Borders program saw this set of crosses which vividly depicts the human cost of Operation Gatekeeper and an increasingly militarized border. We students, along with past participants of border trips and Global Exchange spearheaded the drive to build a second set of crosses to be shown in the U.S. Our purposes are to educate the public about the situation at the California border, to humanize the number of deaths, and to remain active in campaigns related to what we learned while at the border.

By the Beginning of May, 1999, the project consisted of 395 wooden crosses. Each was constructed and then personalized with the name, age, and place of origin of a person who has died while crossing the border since Operation Gatekeeper went into effect. Sadly, more than 100 crosses carry no name. These crosses are inscribed "NO IDENTIFICADO" and represent each of the people who have never been identified.

This set of crosses first went to San Jose, California for their annual Cinco de Mayo festival which drew over 200,000 people. During the festival's parade, volunteers marched with the crosses as all the names of people who have died were read aloud through megaphones. After each name was read, the entire delegation carrying crosses echoed "presente," as a way of saying that yes, you are present in our memories and your voice will continue to be heard.

The following week, people marched with the crosses during protests surrounding Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo's tour of California for a series of meetings with Governor Gray Davis.

While the original set of crosses continued to travel to different cities in southern Mexico, the second set was displayed in Los Angeles and then in Tijuana from October 1st (the 5th anniversary of Operation Gatekeeper) through November 2nd of 1999. On the Day of the Dead a celebracion was held in honor of the 451 migrants who have died trying to cross the border. Rafael Romo Muñoz, the Bishop of Tijuana, led more than 200 people and officials from many churches first in a memorial service followed by a procession along the crosses in which he blessed each cross. There have been feature stories by the media in every city the crosses have been to. These events have given us an opportunity to reach many people who are largely unaware of U.S. Border policies, to talk about the impacts of Operation Gatekeeper, and to provide people with the opportunities to make their voices heard.

If you would like the crosses to come to your area, please contact the Exploring California program at Global Exchange.