07:42 PM MST on Sunday, July 24, 2005

By Joyesha Chesnick / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

More than 115 people - young and old, though predominantly white - showed up for the No More Deaths "Flood the Desert" training session Sunday afternoon.

Organizers for the Tucson-based movement, which gives food, water and medical assistance to people who illegally cross the border on foot from Mexico to the United States, ran out of information packets as people filtered in to Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd St.

"It's incredible we're having this kind of turnout," said Daniel Strauss, 23, one of two No More Deaths workers arrested July 9 on charges of violating federal immigration law after they were caught driving three migrants, and said they were taking them to get medical help.

Strauss, one of the leaders of the training session, said the high attendance shows people are not willing to put up with migrant deaths.

No More Deaths hopes to have more than 40 volunteers manning its Ark of the Covenant camp in Arivaca around-the-clock to provide succor to migrants who continue to illegally cross the border into Arizona by the hundreds each day, some of them dying in the process from heatstroke and dehydration.

Typically there are 15 to 30 volunteers at the Arivaca camp at all times.

The camp is named for the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant, a wooden box that symbolized the presence of God traveling with the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert.

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