Rafael Larraenza’s cellphone rings 60 to 80 times a day. The calls come from desperate relatives of migrants who’ve gotten lost in the desert.
They give him whatever vague information they have about their family member’s last known whereabouts, and ask if there’s anything he can do.
Larraenza takes down the information, packs a bag and heads into the desert. He spends days wandering around on foot, looking for clues, calling out people’s names. Sometimes, he finds them. Sometimes they’re dead by the time he arrives. More often, he doesn’t find anything. But he always answers the phone.
Larraenza runs an organization called Desert Angel — though the organization is primarily him. He’s been doing this work for decades, in spite of the long odds and the punishing toll it’s taken on his body.
Larraenza was recently the subject of a documentary — also called “Desert Angel” — by filmmaker Vincent DeLuca. The Show spoke with DeLuca and Larraenza, who was assisted by an interpreter for the conversation.
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Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is again asking the federal government to reimburse Arizona for border security spending. -
The multi-billion dollar project will build two steel bollard walls across large swaths of borderland — including in Lochiel, a tiny town about 25 miles east of Nogales. -
The facility on the Arizona-Sonora border is set to become the second sterile fly dispersal facility in the United States, as the country looks to beat back the spread of the flesh-eating parasite. -
The grove is located in Lochiel, Arizona, a tiny town some 25 miles east of Nogales. One protester was arrested there on Monday, as construction crews moved in on the trees. -
A train derailment spilled 15,000 gallons of sodium hydrosulfide near the Naco border crossing into Arizona.
