Professors Randall McGuire and Ruth Van Dyke spent four months in Tucson last fall to help Mexican migrants by providing them with cell phones and shoelaces.

McGuire and Van Dyke, married and both anthropology professors at Binghamton University, worked with “No More Deaths” in Arizona, an organization founded in 2004 dedicated to ending the death and suffering in the border region between the United States and Mexico, according to the organization’s website.

Thousands of men, women and children have died trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States. McGuire said that many people have no money for food and kidnappings are frequent.

45 people have been found dead between the border since Oct. 1 2011, according to the No More Deaths website.

The organization aims to help people who have been recently deported and displaced, as well as people who plan to cross the border. Van Dyke said No More Deaths functions under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“The fundamental politics of No More Deaths is simple, we don’t think people should die in the desert because they want to come to come up here and clean toilets,” McGuire said.

Though the professors were stationed on the U.S. side of the border, McGuire and Van Dyke spent the majority of their time working at a bus stop in the Mexican town of Nogales, where deportees often congregate to determine their next move.

Van Dyke said she set up a station at the bus stop where migrants could make free phone calls to family or friends in the U.S. or Mexico. Often, she said, this would be their only access to a phone.

“Cell phones seem like such a small thing, but sometimes people would have to call home to get money wired, or sometimes they would just call they’re wife or mother to say ‘I love you,’” Van Dyke said. “On an emotional level I think we were re-humanizing them.”

Van Dyke and McGuire also distributed shoelaces to migrants while running their phone booth. McGuire said the shoelaces were important because many deportees would have their shoelaces taken during detention periods.

“Usually the reason people give up, or the reason people die is because of blisters,” McGuire said. “People won’t have adequate shoes and the group will leave them behind.”

McGuire recounted a time when he encountered a 17- or 18-year-old man on a trail into the U.S. who could not continue because of the blisters on his feet.

“He cried and said he failed his family,” McGuire said. “I verified to him that there was nothing more he could do and told him ‘you may die if you try to go on.’”

Hannah Hafter, a public health coordinator who has worked with No More Deaths for four years, said she was always moved by Van Dyke and McGuire’s commitment.

“Right away [McGuire and Van Dyke] were really ready to jump in,” Hafter said. “They really understood what they were doing, and what our approach and mission is.”

Kelsie Martinez, a senior majoring in anthropology who has taken classes with both Van Dyke and McGuire, said she was not surprised to hear about their work on the border.

“I think that if you knew them and how passionate and committed they are to their work, it wouldn’t be unexpected,” Martinez said.

Van Dyke and McGuire expressed that they would like to get BU students involved in No More Deaths.

“If someone is socially committed and wants to make a difference, I think it’s an excellent experience,” McGuire said.