WEBVTT - CZM Rewind: Title 42, Pt 2: Migrant Stories 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.560 Going on, yelling and gen length by Molly. It's going off, 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:08.280 going lengthy and elm see ian for the sky that 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.520 me im pre and Mama says some push free and 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:14.280 glo for them, say must smile them. No, no, i' 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:19.680 must do and re be Gannata canna watch me hey man, 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:25.119 grateful man, grateful I went not on manna smile. Yeah. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.960 Once there is a live God, I'll want give me 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:34.360 everything for some five Yeah love Sack Fries, big up 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:36.279 to jommy car. I got to eat and come back. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.240 I'm seeing yeah, man, that's it one love Oh. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.320 On the eleventh of May this year, Title forty two 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.479 finally ended. I stually began to write this episode the 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:48.920 day before on the tenth of May, but it was 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.560 that day the DHS announced that Title forty two would 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.160 be enforced until eight fifty nine pm Pacific or midnight Eastern. 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.000 They kept Title forty two in place for every single 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.720 minute they could, and that's day. Five hundred active duty 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.840 troops arrived in El Paso and one thousand more set 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.119 off for other border towns to join the two thousand, 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.920 five hundred troops already deployed to the border. According to 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.680 oppress release from an Apartment of Homeland Security. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.760 CBP and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement are further expanding 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:21.679 detention capacity, ramping up removal flights, and shifting agents and 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.160 officers to high priority regions along the southwest border. This week, 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.360 CBP opened two new holding facilities, and the Department of 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.640 Health and Human Services is increasing its bed capacity to 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:36.760 prepare for a potential increase in unaccompanied children. DHS also 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.880 launched targeted enforcement operations and high priority regions along the border, 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.560 including El Paso, to quickly process migrants and place them 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.600 in removal proceedings. DHS last week also announced over two 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.440 hundred and fifty million dollars in additional assistance for communities 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.120 receiving migrants. 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.640 On the ground. This assistant and planning didn't exactly meet 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.600 the task at hand, albeit the specific call out of 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:01.800 El PASA so does suggest that they saw their task 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.920 as not looking bad In the right wing media hits 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.400 some audio recorded after a couple of hours walking around 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.920 talking to people at Sanisedro, where Customs and Border Protection 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.000 had detained around five hundred people in between the two 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.720 thirty foot fences that make up the border between Salisedro 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.760 and Tijuana. I'm just for people familiar with San Diego 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:25.839 in the Tijuana River Valley park by International Hill, where 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:31.000 border patrol are holding people in between the two border fences. 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.960 For those who thought we didn't have a border wall 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:37.320 or weren't having a border wall, we have at least two, 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.760 sometimes three, but right here we have two. People are 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.440 being put in between these fences by border patrols. So 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.440 I just spoke to some young Colombian women who had 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:52.160 crossed about fifteen miles east of here and then been 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.360 relocated here and there in between these border walls. They 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.080 don't have running water. What food and water they have 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.600 appear to being surplied by volunteers on the Norse side. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.720 They've just been given space blankets, but a lot of 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.919 people are literally sleeping under bin bags right now, blankets. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.639 It's pretty breek. There's one portal toilet sort of thing 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.079 that we can see about five hundred people, so it 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.120 kind of gives you an idea of the conditions. Obviously 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.320 those don't live up to the detention conditions that border 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.880 patrol are supposed to a hole people under. But here 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.480 we are. I guess border patrol have just said that 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:28.120 they're calling an ambulance. There have been a number of 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.480 medical emergencies that nearly always are in these situations because 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.840 you're holding people. They're you know, old people, young people, 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.600 sick people, and they're in the sun all day, they're 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.760 in the cold all night. If it rains, they get wet. 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.360 It's hot, they get hot. If it's cold, they get cold. 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.960 Their little children were just asking me for a blanket 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.040 a minute ago, which is always a pretty bleak thing. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.400 If you've not been here, you'd be forgiven for not 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.480 knowing that we have a double layer of wall separating 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.480 us from our neighbors in Tijuana. Both sections are now 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.320 the Trump period design, but we're standing in a we're 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.000 not so very long ago. Nancy Reagan stood and said 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:04.640 she hoped that there wouldn't be a fence here for 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.400 very long. Now there are two towering walls, and their 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.360 little children stuck sleeping in the dust between them or 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.840 The aid to these people had to go through the wall, too, 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.240 and that meant no hot meals because the gaps are 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.240 smaller than a plate. Someone tried to bring tents, but 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.040 they wouldn't fit. Everything from food to clothes to medical 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.400 supplies had to go through the gaps in the war. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.520 Hamara Usefie, a volunteer from the Partnership for the Advancement 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.719 of New Americans, described to me what she saw that night. 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:40.560 I see about five hundred beautiful, smiling faces of people 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:47.040 who are desperately trying to get to safety, and they're confused. 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.279 They don't know what's going on. They don't know how 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:53.440 long it will take them. You know, they many of 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.039 them are aware that something is happening today. So many 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.479 of them are asking does this mean that I'll be 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:04.840 turned back? What is going on? I see, you know, 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.000 people who don't even have many kids, don't have shoes, 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:15.000 they don't have I talked to individuals who lost everything 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:15.520 on them. 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:16.840 They don't have jackets. 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.800 They're trying to cover themselves with any kind of covering 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:24.600 that they have. Some of them using trash bags, others 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.799 using scarves and other types of things to cover themselves 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.200 from the sun. We are in San Diego, so it's 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:31.120 quite sunny here. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.599 The first thing I noticed on arrival was dozens of 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.920 hands sticking through the wall holding phones and charges. That's 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.159 because people need to use the CBP one app to 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.520 interact with border enforcement. But they've been detained by the 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.320 same border enforcement in between two walls in an open 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.280 field where there obviously isn't any electricity. They also need 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.480 their phones to stay in touch with their families, to 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.160 let them know they survived a difficult and dangerous journey 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.640 and that they're now technically inside the USA. Advet a 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.200 CBP broadcast in Spanish to encourage asylum seekers to download 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.240 the app before they put them in a place they 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:07.440 couldn't charge their phones. 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.039 Attencion migrante. 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.320 Attention migrants in Mexico City or further north in the country. 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.440 Why do you need to download CBP one. It's a 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.240 free and legal way to get an appointment guaranteed at 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.480 a port of entry. It's a clear way to solicit asylum, 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.000 and you have the possibility to work while your case 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.359 is being processed. If you present without an appointment, you 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.520 can be prohibited from entering the US for five years. 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.440 You will be subject to expedited deportation unless you comply 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.800 with the strict requirements of the asylum process. In the 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.839 majority of cases, it is assumed that migrants do not 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.760 comply with the requirements for asylum, and you won't have 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.680 the right to work unless you comply with the strict requirements. Again, 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.159 if you are now in Mexico City or further north, 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.440 download CBP one. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.400 As we heard yesterday, CBP one has been an a 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.000 mitigated disaster. I'd shown a very clear bias towards certain 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.880 types of wealthy and white asylum seekers, despite that it 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:07.480 seems to have been the only plan in place the 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.680 end of Title forty two. The hundreds of people detained 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.160 in between defenses, whomably didn't have appointments and with no 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.320 way to charge their phones, they couldn't make them. It's 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.440 not clear of making them would have helped, as it 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:21.880 seems that they were already being detained, and thus they 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.560 would have to file defensive asylum claims, effectively stopping the 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.640 repatriation process by claiming that they couldn't safely be sent 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.320 back to their country of origin. This is opposed to 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.040 making an affirmative asylum claim that people should have been 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.360 able to make at the border. With a CBP one appointment, 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.160 these would not have to be argued with the threat 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:43.200 of repatriation hanging over the person making them the claim. Volunteers, 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.520 local people, a mosque group, and a church group all 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.120 showed up soon after CBP began dumping more people in 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.680 between the fences. An hour after my own arrival. I'd 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.400 given away all the charge cables that I had in 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.160 my truck, which is a lot more charge cables than 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.520 I thought I had in my truck, and all my 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.120 charge Rick Sacrudo over six years of getting free shied 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.360 at the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. Later. I 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.440 came back with a massive solar generator that I'd like 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.040 to use when I'm living off grid. But I still 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.680 need to write stuff. Even all my home electronics ephemera 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.320 and the combined efforts of nonprofits, religious and mutual aid 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.160 groups couldn't really make much difference to the five hundred 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.760 people from around the world, mostly families with children, being 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:26.240 held between the two fences. When it got hot, they 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.720 got hot. When it got cold, they got cold. When 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.400 the wind blew, they got dust in their eyes, and 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.440 everything was constantly dirty. The only hot food volunteers could 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.160 get to them was pizza. Some of the detained people 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.400 have cash, and they were able to order door dash 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:43.720 on the Tijuana side, but again the meals had to 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.720 fit through a hole barely wider than my arm. The 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.480 only way to get clean was with wet wipes, and 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.280 there was only one bathroom. There was no shade or 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.240 shelter either, and the only way people could construct shelters 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.520 were through tying tops to the border wall itself. I 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.240 like Kaber, the volunteers who came to help describe what 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.679 they saw when participating in Mutilated a couple of days after, but. 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.160 It was definitely was. 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.320 I don't think it really struck me until, you know, after, 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.600 after everything, and you know, after I left several hours later. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.320 But the kind of I mean, I am right about 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.080 the situation at the border, but the kind of matter 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.840 of fackness of there's just several hundred people, including children, 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:32.280 just kind of between this fence and they're just stuck 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.679 there with nothing, and the sort of a matter of 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:41.079 fatness of the all was I think, I think the 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:45.040 part that struck me the most. And it's been a much. 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.280 Challenging the process. In the days before the end of 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.360 Title forty two, confusion had rained at the border. A 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.360 lot of people I talked to mentioned that they thought 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.679 they had to cross before the end of Title forty 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.240 two or they would be ejected and not able to 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.959 apply for five years at a Title eight This misunderstanding 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.680 might in part be due to some of the misleading 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:07.000 rhetoric put out by MAJORCAS and others, which focused on 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.840 the harsh penalties for crossing between ports of entry an 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.720 attempt to appear strong on the border to their colleagues 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.920 in DC. They didn't place as much emphasis on the 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.559 right to present and claim asylum at a port of entry. 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.120 But as we saw yesterday, it's virtually impossible to actually 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.760 do that. An Tijuana is already full of thousands of 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.360 people trying to do that exact thing given a set 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.240 of circumstances, it makes sense that many people took the 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.560 days before the end of Title forty two. At the 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.400 final chance to cross before Title forty two ended, I 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.080 spoke to Diana Rodriguez from Colombia about her understanding of 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:41.920 what was going to happen. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.239 Later that night, Diana Rodriguez the Columbia. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.760 Diana was with two friends, all of them wearing little 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.560 daisies in their hair and sharing a tarp shelter they'd 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.280 made by tying a blue tarp against the wall so 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.520 they could get some shade and privacy. I asked her 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.559 where the flowers had come from. You hear theo you 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:01.240 voice by Scherin. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.319 Oh, the flowers, the flowers. Well, there are these little flowers, 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.800 flowers that are growing here like in a garden. So 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.679 when we went and took a walk over there and 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.679 we found them, we put them on and they're pretty. 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.640 We call these the little yellow flowers of hope, and 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.679 they match the color of our bracelets. We picked them 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:24.760 on the day we arrived, and we knew that we 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.480 needed a little bit of encouragement. We got the yellow bracelets. 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.560 Because we arrived on Tuesday, everyone got the same bracelet. 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.360 I asked, Diana, which you'd heard about Title forty two, 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:36.880 which is ending a few hours after we talked. 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.360 Yes, it's the end of Title forty two. Title forty 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:46.240 two is the one that endorses mass deportations. Yes, and 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.640 well it's a question of you not just getting deported, 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:54.800 but being repatriated. In other words, after this they do 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.960 a full repatriation. But right now you are not registered 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.559 in the system. But what they do is that they 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.520 only return you. They don't register you. But let's say, 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.120 on the basis of Article eight, is that a few 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:13.079 at least we are invading American territory, then we are 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.920 in effect breaking a law, and what Article eight does 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.120 is that they deport you and they put you in 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.320 the registered database saying that you broke the law, and 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.000 they punish you for five years and you lose the 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.559 right to request your asylum through legal channels. 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:31.880 People at another camp in u Cumba heard the same 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.840 thing from Colombians, and it seems like there are even 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.800 news pieces run on domestic television explain that US plan 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.760 to return many Colombians in the coming months and this 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.240 might be the last best chance to cross the border 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.319 without permanent consequences if you got caught in a Cumba 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.319 volunteered estimated that two thirds of the people corraled under 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.720 the deasert son from Colombia. Of course, in recent years 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.079 there has been instability and violence there, which also drives migration. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.520 One of my sources also mentioned a lot of people 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:05.040 had seen misleading information about immigration lawa on TikTok. Two 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.440 days had passed since Janna arrived. She came with one 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.120 of the girls she was now sharing a top with. 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:12.200 I met another when they were all dumped in the 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.960 camp together. In the days before they were detained here. 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.480 They crossed three countries on their way to what they 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.360 hope was a better life for young women like them. 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.520 I asked them to describe that journey for me. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.920 Yes, eight days, eight days more or less walking from 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.040 Colombia from El Salvador to Guatemala, the New Mexico. To 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:35.760 hear all that time walking and taking the bus. There's 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.360 a part fifteen or twenty minutes from here where the 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.640 wall ends, and we crossed there there was a Mexican 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.760 patrol and when they changed shifts, we ran and here 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.360 we are on American soil. We arrived on foot and 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.960 the police brought us here. They opened the gate and 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:51.640 dropped us. 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.760 Here along the way, she said, they've run into a 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:57.319 lot of people. The micand journey north is such a 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.560 common trick that people living along the way have found 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.800 a way to make a buck, but also a way 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.800 to make a difference. It's not uncommon for my gorant 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.160 to be extorted, robbed, or threatened. It's also not uncommon 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.679 for them to be fed by strangers, perhaps handing off 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:12.880 bags with food in them to passing trains or buses, 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.199 or perhaps given a place to sleep for the night 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:16.920 by someone they might never see again. 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.720 There were parts where we were extorted. They took all 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.160 the money we brought. They robbed us, they stole our passports, 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:28.320 they still our documents. So it's always quite dangerous. Let's 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.120 say that it's dangerous to take this journey. Yes, just 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.560 as we have met some bad people along the way, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.040 we have also met some very good people, people who 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.360 have given us a hand, people who have helped us, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.960 people who have collaborated with us in ways you least expect. 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.600 I asked Dianna what she hoped for now she was 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.560 technically inside the USA. 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.000 Yes, let's say the hope is that they will listen 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.320 to our case, listen to our case, and let us 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.640 fight the case inside. Yes, because we want to be 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.160 able to explain the conditions we are in and the 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:01.760 reasons that those of us who are here came here, 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:06.000 things like extortion, kidnapping, and because our lives are in 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.640 danger in Colombia. So we wish that they at least 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.760 listen to our case and let us plead our cause. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.160 Before we started recording, Deanna asked what network I was with. 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.440 I thought that was an astute question. Networks like Fox 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.240 show up at the border, although I didn't see any 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.520 Fox National reporters on my trip. Certainly local news channel 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.080 kus I was there, but they're reporting on the ground 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.080 differed from their xenophobic and outright incorrect online coverage. I 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.000 asked Diana, what you'd want to say to folks who 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.680 might have had their perspective influence by the constant demonization 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:38.160 of migrants by right wing media. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.440 There are many people who, let's say, are in a 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:46.239 mindset of not wanting migrants, and they view them with contempt. 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:51.320 Because where xenophobia exists, it's hard for us because we 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.440 suffer along the way. We would like you to change 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.800 your way of seeing things and your way of thinking 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.840 so that you don't look at us with contempt. We 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.040 have a saying in Columbia that says that he who 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.720 was born in a golden cradle never suffers or never 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.080 sees what he does not know. So it's hard when 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.760 you're born in a golden cradle and you don't see 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.680 beyond what you have. So there are people that in 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.440 our case, in my case, I lived a very hard 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.240 life where you see the war between armed groups. They 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.040 exist outside the law and they can control an area, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:32.040 and you see the kidnapping, you see the rape of girls, recruitment, extortion, death, yes, 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.280 So it's hard when we experience that and people say 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.400 things like these migrants are coming to invade our country, 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.400 we also ask them to treat us as people, because 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.840 if we are here, it is not because we want 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.960 to invade a territory. It is because we want to 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.040 come to fight for a better future for our children 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:57.160 without stepping on anyone. Nobody wants this. But where we 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:01.640 come from, we receive travelers with open arms. And it's 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.840 hard when one is a migrant, when one lives the 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.080 experience of being a migrant, it is a very hard 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:13.600 thing to be a migrant, having to endure cold, hunger, rain, sun, 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.040 that is, all these things, and then arriving here and 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:22.960 seeing faces of contempt. It's hard. It is very hard. 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.440 So yes, the important thing is that people must know 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:32.040 that being an immigrant is not easy. Being an immigrant 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.840 is not easy. 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:36.720 One of her friends who she was sharing a top with, 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:38.160 leaned over to give an example. 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.760 Everyone despairs because everyone wants to leave, so everyone sees 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:48.960 each other as enemies. So let's say, for example, right now, 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.200 when they are sending cars to collect people to process, 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.760 so everyone there thinks, I hope they take me. Then 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.760 when they don't it gets to a point where, yes, 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:06.040 where you despair. I mean it's desperate. Well, everyone, everyone 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.040 is in the fight together, all in the fight. 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.080 I have to get another dusting down from a CBP 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.600 agent who really liked to RaSE his squad bike passing 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.000 utulaid tables splayed to a man from Angola. I'll leave 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:31.879 his name out, as he preferred for me not to 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.399 share it. He'd been into Juana for three days. He 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.720 said he was waiting his chant to plead his case 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:37.560 for asylum. 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:43.080 No, it's just me and my sister. We suffered a lot. 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.280 There were bandits. We came here to be safe. It's 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.560 no way to live. People broke into our house to 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.159 violate women, to look for people, and I was injured. 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.680 Then yeah, why did I leave to come here? Over there, 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.560 they're not they're not the means to live. 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:00.920 We didn't get it. Your aunts to talk for long, 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.080 and some of the recording I got wasn't very good. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.040 He was waiting in line for food, and to be 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.720 quite honest, I don't like prodding people to share their trauma, 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.679 but with so many journalists crowding the border asking them 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.200 to do just that, it tends to be what people offer. 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:15.879 Lots of African migrants can be quite cautious of the 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.359 media because talking to the media at home could get 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.120 them in trouble. I spoke to a friend of mine, 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.280 himself a migrant from Africa. He said that if migrants 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.120 don't speak English or Spanish, it can be very hard 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.560 for them to get information, and there aren't as many 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.480 nonprofits set up to serve them as there are for 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.760 Spanish speaking people, for example. They can often end up 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.159 isolated and alone. I did get a better chance to 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.080 talk to a Jamaican man called Joseph. It's his singing 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.119 you've heard at the start of this episode. Mostly we 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:45.760 talked about things in America, about how he lost his 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.560 phone on his journey, we got him another one at Walmart, 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.720 and about things like football and music. I didn't record 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:54.440 all of that because sometimes it's nice to just talk 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.879 to people. Hopefully it makes their dair a bit brighter 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.240 and gives them some information. Maybe they could help let 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.440 me record a bit of an interview and some of 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.520 him singing. He was pretty guarded on the recording, but 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:06.960 as you can hear in this clip, we had a 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:08.240 good time when we weren't recording. 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:16.760 I am the best one. Yeah, it's got a timber 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:17.360 raps up. 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:18.680 He's gotta get. 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:19.160 My man up. 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:24.040 There we go and get my man's up. Hey, you 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:27.600 know it's leg jennly is. He went on yelling and 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.760 genn but Molly, it's going off, not going likely and 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.199 lem see ian for the sky, dunt me I pre 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.439 mama says something push free and glo for them, say 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:42.000 mut smile them no normals do and re being gonna talk. 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:47.440 Canna watch me hey man gradeful man, gradeful? I went 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:52.160 not and go on manna smile. Yeah, once there is life. 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.920 God all want give me everything for some fun. Yeah, 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.880 love suck great fries pick up to Jomy, got to eat, 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.360 don't come back. So yeah, man, that's it one. Look. 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.240 Oh that was beautiful. Yeah, I'm I'm Joseph. 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.080 I asked him about some of the stuff we spoke 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:12.920 about before, but he didn't want to share it. 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:13.680 Yeah. 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:16.440 That's the old testimony to me and you and God 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:18.800 have to go into church. But I'm gonna give you 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:19.600 that the next time. 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.800 Okay, buddy, Alright, just just experienced a lot of personal 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.439 harm from conflict back home in Jamaica. I had a 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.440 difficult journey here with his five year old son. 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:30.040 Yeah, it's rough. It's rough out there, man, you know, 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:30.920 it's a rough. 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.479 How did you come like you come? I asked him 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:35.720 how his young son ha dealt with the journey. It's 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:37.600 not a safe or easy one for an adult, let 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:38.680 alone for a little child. 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:43.840 It's it's just kind of scary. B he pulled. 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:45.240 Yeah, that's good. 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.720 You have my energy inside. 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:48.240 That's good. 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:48.600 Yeah. 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.440 Are you how's he finding it here in the camp? 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.680 Oh? Yeah, that camp. I don't know why. That guy 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.520 is just like me. We just don't make anything better us. Yeah, 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.520 what it's working there because you guys give it a 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:03.720 strength and supported in. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:04.080 Us the not. 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:06.359 Joseph wanted me to know that he wasn't giving up 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.560 his home. He loves Jamaica, but he also wants a 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:10.480 better life for his son. 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:15.240 Is that it's that? Isn't that like I'm giving away 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.440 my home? My home is a good place. Yeah, yeah, 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:20.280 it's a good island, nice place to be. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:22.920 Of course, this perspective is very common, and it's one 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:25.879 that often gets left out of reporting. Coming to the 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:29.080 USA is a very hopeful act. It's not abandoning your 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:31.760 family or your home. It's trying to make their lives 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:35.480 better in your life, Livabool. Joseph was quite guided with 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:37.239 his story, and that's fine. It's his to share as 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.960 much as little as he wants. I came to the 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:42.720 USA without having to get persecuted or hurt, and people 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:44.520 who don't look like me should have that same right 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:49.280 as well. Sadly, coming to the USA is also scary 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.119 and confusing, even for me with three university degrees and 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.960 all the intersectional privilege I have and fifteen years living here, 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.480 and I've recently minted US passport. Now, I worried for 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:01.800 years that maybe I'd made a mistake on a form 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:06.040 or missed some kind of deadline. Speaking of deadlines, what 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:08.280 none of the migrants could tell us, what they all 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:10.560 wanted to ask about was exactly what was happening to 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:14.880 them As Title forty two expired. A Congolese lady asked 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:17.479 me if her passport would be confiscated. A lady from 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:19.359 Senegal asked if she needed to pay a bribe like 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:22.400 the one she'd paid in Mexico. It wasn't really clear 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:24.480 at first if these people were being detained and under 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:27.320 what process they were being received, would they be sent 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:31.880 back to Mexico and a Title forty two repatriated under 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:35.119 Biden's interpretation of Title eight, or given the right to 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:37.720 plead their case as international and US law suggests should 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:41.840 be able to. CBP made people sit in lines all 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:43.960 day with no indication of when they would be taken 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:46.959 to the port of entry for processing. Sometimes I heard 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:49.520 people saying if everyone didn't sit down, there'll be nobody 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:52.760 processed that day. But the only food, water, and medical 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:55.960 attention available to the migrants was ZAK which could be 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:58.600 passed through the wall, and they had to get out 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.360 of their lines to receive this aid. Yeah, I'll let kay, 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:02.560 but describe what it looked like. 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:05.439 They had people waiting in lines that like you're to 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:10.760 sit in a line in a specific assigned spot. But 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:13.880 it wasn't always clear if those how those lines actually worked, 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:17.520 because they would kind of take people from lots of places. 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:20.120 I think they might have been prioritizing family for children, 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:23.080 or people with some kind of medical needs or something 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:26.400 like that. But we would that you would never know 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:28.800 when they were going to come, and we didn't seem 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:30.840 to know also who they were going to choose to take. 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:33.000 We assume we didn't know exactly where we were taking them, 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:34.560 but we assume they were taking the Port of Venture 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:36.119 in Sannes ce Tour, which is about a mile away. 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:39.919 And so what would always happen when they come and 0:24:39.920 --> 0:24:41.880 get a group is like three or four people from 0:24:41.880 --> 0:24:44.480 that group would sprint over to the world because we 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:46.919 still had their phones and CD people wasn't going to 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:49.520 wait for us to get the phones. 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:51.800 One thing a lot of people we talked to shared 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:54.720 was that there was another camp, which we later found 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:58.000 house as many as eight hundred single men. It's fairly 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:00.600 usual to keep single men apart from family, but keeping 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:03.640 them in an inaccessible place without adequate food or water 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:07.639 is not usual. The camp was further west, and despite 0:25:07.680 --> 0:25:10.960 repeated requests from myself and others, including those delivering aid, 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:14.000 we were not allowed to access it. One pair of 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:17.879 Jamaican twins, both young men, told me they had walked 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:20.719 up there and that things were very bad. People were 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:23.200 only given one small water bottom the granola bar every day, 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:28.000 they said. One person told me they'd heard people eating grass. 0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:30.960 I asked CBP's press office for information on this, but 0:25:31.000 --> 0:25:34.640 they didn't respond. Here's one clip of a man trying 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:37.320 to explain how bad things were there. It's hard to 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:40.280 communicate across language barriers, and with a war between you 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:42.720 is even harder. But I could tell he was very 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:46.080 concerned for the folks that we couldn't get to, despite 0:25:46.080 --> 0:25:49.080 myself and others trying and me addressing this issue directly 0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:51.960 and emails to CBP, and never got any response on 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:54.040 why people were not allowed to help the single men 0:25:54.080 --> 0:25:54.760 in the other camp. 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.560 Just not helping. What little water? 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:15.960 Nothing else? No food, no water, blankets, clothes, nothing. I'll 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:16.920 go try and go up there. 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:21.760 Even with these camps being pretty desperate places, folks look 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:24.760 after one another. We spoke a lot with one lady 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:27.560 who spoke English. She was there with her own family, 0:26:27.920 --> 0:26:30.440 but she was also looking after two Tagi children who'd 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:33.840 come alone. Their mother spoke a little English, so she 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:36.679 relayed news to the children by calling their mother and 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:40.480 having her translated for her children. Other folks took it 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:42.199 upon themselves to try and walk to the camp for 0:26:42.240 --> 0:26:45.720 single men with water, and people constantly helped us find 0:26:45.800 --> 0:26:47.879 the owners of phone about wandering through the rows of 0:26:47.920 --> 0:26:50.560 people sheltering under taps and space blankets to look for 0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:57.000 people who had left us their devices to charge in Nukumber, 0:26:58.040 --> 0:27:00.000 a town an hour or so east of San Diego, 0:27:00.440 --> 0:27:04.080 things were worse. Cumber's home to a cute hotel, a 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:06.560 lovely lake, a hot spring, and an awful lot of 0:27:06.560 --> 0:27:09.760 big rugs. When the border wall was being built in 0:27:09.800 --> 0:27:12.480 Earnest before the twenty twenty election, they skipped some of 0:27:12.520 --> 0:27:15.000 the harder areas. Perhaps they figured it would be too 0:27:15.040 --> 0:27:18.199 hard to cross there, it's not Perhaps they wanted to 0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:21.080 maximize the mileage before election day. Well, it didn't help much, 0:27:21.560 --> 0:27:24.440 but either way, for some reason, the wall just takes 0:27:24.440 --> 0:27:27.160 a little break in Hucumber and this makes crossing much 0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:31.840 only easier there. However, the boulder fields, scorching hot days 0:27:31.880 --> 0:27:35.920 and cold nights make it anything but easy. On Thursday night, 0:27:35.960 --> 0:27:38.760 the eleventh of May, locals in u Cumba became aware 0:27:38.800 --> 0:27:41.240 that CBP were holding people on a dirt road in 0:27:41.240 --> 0:27:43.520 the open desert, just a few miles east of town 0:27:43.800 --> 0:27:46.320 and a few hundred feet from the wall. The people 0:27:46.320 --> 0:27:48.960 held they didn't have access to toilets, running water, or shelter. 0:27:49.600 --> 0:27:52.280 With every hour that went past, the number of people grew. 0:27:53.480 --> 0:27:56.720 The biggest camp soon held over one thousand people desperately 0:27:56.720 --> 0:27:59.760 trying to scratch out a little shade in the desert. Others, 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:02.800 all accounts popped up. One was apparently in someone's yard, 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:05.600 and the people of this tiny desert town so about 0:28:05.640 --> 0:28:09.199 helping as best they could. Soon they were joined by 0:28:09.280 --> 0:28:12.240 volunteers from all over the county. Katie was one of 0:28:12.240 --> 0:28:14.879 those volunteers. She doesn't live in a Cumber, but her 0:28:14.880 --> 0:28:18.400 friends do and her family sometimes spends time there. Once 0:28:18.440 --> 0:28:20.480 she heard about what was happening, she knew she had 0:28:20.480 --> 0:28:23.840 to help. I let her describe her feelings after she 0:28:23.840 --> 0:28:26.639 saw the post online and then drove out to Cumber 0:28:26.720 --> 0:28:27.960 to see what she could do to help. 0:28:28.960 --> 0:28:33.160 At first, I was just super touched by the activation 0:28:34.080 --> 0:28:41.840 and the carrying, and my son was asleep, comfortable in 0:28:41.880 --> 0:28:47.440 his car seat, you know, in our Mercedes van. And 0:28:48.040 --> 0:28:53.800 my husband is still trying to get citizenship after being 0:28:53.880 --> 0:28:59.240 here since he was two years old. So and we're 0:28:59.280 --> 0:29:04.960 married and he pays taxes. And when I saw our 0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:09.479 friends activating, I just told him tomorrow's Mother's Day and 0:29:10.680 --> 0:29:14.880 I need to come back here, and it's not safe 0:29:14.920 --> 0:29:20.360 for you here. So when I first arrived, I thought 0:29:20.360 --> 0:29:26.040 it was kind of odd that everything was organized around 0:29:26.080 --> 0:29:30.800 a random road that has a gate and there were 0:29:30.920 --> 0:29:40.640 five only five border patrol at the time, and about 0:29:42.320 --> 0:29:44.680 that was a larger camp, so I want to say 0:29:44.840 --> 0:29:49.760 at least eight hundred people, maybe a thousand. I didn't 0:29:49.840 --> 0:29:55.200 see them all because many of them would received their 0:29:55.400 --> 0:30:00.120 donations and the assistance and went back to their shelters. 0:30:01.760 --> 0:30:04.240 A few days after the migrants arrived, I camped out 0:30:04.240 --> 0:30:07.000 in Hukumba. I was cold in my sleeping bag at 0:30:07.080 --> 0:30:09.840 night and dizzy in the sun in the day. It's 0:30:09.880 --> 0:30:11.600 not a place where you'd want to be stuck outside 0:30:11.600 --> 0:30:14.320 the long but it's a place where fifteen hundred or 0:30:14.360 --> 0:30:17.320 so people were held for days little more than the shelters. 0:30:17.360 --> 0:30:19.360 They are built out of creosota and mesquite to protect 0:30:19.400 --> 0:30:22.480 their families from the elements. They slept on the dirt 0:30:22.560 --> 0:30:25.000 or in cardboard boxes left over from the food volunteers 0:30:25.040 --> 0:30:28.640 fed them and under whatever folks and tiny desert count 0:30:28.640 --> 0:30:31.920 could find to give them. By the time I arrived, 0:30:32.040 --> 0:30:35.120 the migrants were gone and volunteers were cleaning up. The 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:39.800 landscape was dotted with impressively constructed brush shelters. Volunteers from 0:30:39.840 --> 0:30:43.400 her Cumber set up tables to distribute food, blankets, water, 0:30:43.480 --> 0:30:46.880 and clothing. Other volunteers stayed away from the camp itself 0:30:46.880 --> 0:30:50.680 and spent time packing things into individual sizes, perhaps combining 0:30:50.720 --> 0:30:52.760 hats and socks and maybe a toy for a child 0:30:52.760 --> 0:30:55.680 in one bag, or breaking down costco packages of snacks 0:30:55.680 --> 0:30:59.560 into individual portions. It's not necessarily the most rewarding task, 0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:04.080 but it's an important one. I asked Marissa, another volunteer 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:06.560 who had previously worked in San Diego for the Forest Service, 0:31:07.000 --> 0:31:08.880 what she felt when we were cleaning out some of 0:31:08.920 --> 0:31:10.800 those shelters together a couple of days later. 0:31:11.200 --> 0:31:14.240 I don't know the best way to say this, but 0:31:16.160 --> 0:31:20.760 what hit me deeper was when this might seem strange, 0:31:20.800 --> 0:31:24.800 but when I saw women's sanitary napkins or the diapers, 0:31:25.880 --> 0:31:29.840 or the babies, like it was kind of like a 0:31:29.880 --> 0:31:35.840 fabric padded crib basinet type thing. That suddenly hit me 0:31:36.000 --> 0:31:39.800 on a deeper level would make me emotional, because it's 0:31:39.840 --> 0:31:45.160 like then you start to realize, like, wow, what if 0:31:45.160 --> 0:31:49.760 that was me and my child? Or I'm not a mother, 0:31:49.880 --> 0:31:52.120 but I can only imagine what that must be like 0:31:52.200 --> 0:31:55.800 for them to be going through these things as a 0:31:55.800 --> 0:31:59.960 as a woman, being on your period and being out 0:32:00.120 --> 0:32:03.480 and not having anything you know, going to the bathroom 0:32:03.520 --> 0:32:06.040 out there, what do you use when you don't have 0:32:06.160 --> 0:32:07.040 those supplies? 0:32:09.000 --> 0:32:11.560 So yeah, it just. 0:32:14.840 --> 0:32:19.920 That was when it hit me deeper, and I knew 0:32:19.920 --> 0:32:21.720 I was doing the right thing by being out there 0:32:21.720 --> 0:32:25.160 and helping in whatever way I could, because I don't 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:27.920 I don't when it comes to the politics side of it, 0:32:28.040 --> 0:32:34.680 when it comes to like legality and just different aspects 0:32:34.720 --> 0:32:39.360 of it. In that way, I don't have necessarily an 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:41.760 opinion one way or another. I'm not educated enough to 0:32:41.800 --> 0:32:44.680 feel like I can I can argue one way or another, 0:32:44.800 --> 0:32:48.240 or defend one position or another. I went out there 0:32:48.520 --> 0:32:54.280 purely for my love of humanity, and I think being 0:32:54.320 --> 0:32:57.600 able to support in whatever way I can that was 0:32:57.640 --> 0:32:59.760 the way that I felt like I could serve and 0:33:00.240 --> 0:33:01.360 BeO support. 0:33:01.680 --> 0:33:03.880 Katie hadn't expected to make migrants at the camp when 0:33:03.880 --> 0:33:06.560 she first showed up. She knew it was important not 0:33:06.560 --> 0:33:08.800 to flog the camp with volunteers, and their help was 0:33:08.840 --> 0:33:11.240 needed packaging and preparing aid drops, which she was happy 0:33:11.240 --> 0:33:13.960 to do. But in the end, she traveled up to 0:33:14.000 --> 0:33:16.239 the camp with a friend who spoke Portuguese so they 0:33:16.240 --> 0:33:20.040 could help translate and distribute supplies. I asked her what 0:33:20.080 --> 0:33:21.880 it was like to see the supplies she'd purchased a 0:33:21.920 --> 0:33:24.320 few hours before end up in the hands of people 0:33:24.320 --> 0:33:25.760 who desperately needed them. 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:30.240 They don't even have a grocery store in her cumber 0:33:31.040 --> 0:33:38.160 They have one mini mart with nothing in it, and 0:33:38.480 --> 0:33:46.560 that was sold out the first day. So these people 0:33:46.720 --> 0:33:50.480 who we would look at without a lot of resources, 0:33:51.160 --> 0:33:55.600 passing the abundance of what they actually have. Well, I 0:33:55.680 --> 0:33:59.360 saw a lot of families. I could tell that there 0:33:59.360 --> 0:34:03.600 were leaders within the group because they were helping organize 0:34:03.960 --> 0:34:10.000 as much as the volunteers were. And unfortunately there was 0:34:10.160 --> 0:34:15.040 language barriers, you know, and so those that could speak 0:34:15.760 --> 0:34:22.239 multiple languages, whether they were border crossers or volunteers, were 0:34:22.239 --> 0:34:26.640 together in it. And that was part of that organization 0:34:27.640 --> 0:34:33.640 that I'm talking about, you know. And it was actually 0:34:33.719 --> 0:34:38.240 a very calm scene. 0:34:37.480 --> 0:34:40.480 When we first came up. I saw my son's. 0:34:40.080 --> 0:34:45.480 Hat that I donated and a little boy hugging this 0:34:45.680 --> 0:34:50.880 jaguar stuffed animal, and the jaguar was really significant to 0:34:50.920 --> 0:34:52.520 my friend and I when we found it. 0:34:52.960 --> 0:34:56.759 So it was really touching just to like. 0:34:57.520 --> 0:35:03.200 See the things that we were bringing being literally being 0:35:03.280 --> 0:35:07.800 distributed like sometimes when you think you're helping. I worked 0:35:07.800 --> 0:35:11.000 for a door to door campaign when I was in 0:35:11.040 --> 0:35:14.760 my teens and I got fifty percent of what I raised, 0:35:15.960 --> 0:35:18.080 so and it was like disheartening, and you're like, oh, 0:35:18.160 --> 0:35:23.040 this is how it works. And in this case, money 0:35:23.160 --> 0:35:28.680 that I directly spent on resources that were needed was 0:35:28.760 --> 0:35:30.880 going directly to the people. 0:35:31.760 --> 0:35:34.960 In all likelihood, people crossed in a specific spot because 0:35:34.960 --> 0:35:37.440 someone dropped them there telling them it would be easy. 0:35:38.000 --> 0:35:41.560 In fact, it was anything but people die crossing around here. 0:35:42.480 --> 0:35:45.560 In the dirt around Cucumber, I found discarded fly tocineries 0:35:45.560 --> 0:35:49.520 and documents from Turkey, Nicaragua, Columbia, Mexico. There were also 0:35:49.600 --> 0:35:53.440 little children's toys, shoes, and hundreds of empty water bottles 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:56.120 which we diligently picked up. But none of the more 0:35:56.120 --> 0:35:58.360 than one thousand people who had board patrol held in 0:35:58.400 --> 0:36:01.360 this camp have planned for what they got, which was 0:36:01.400 --> 0:36:04.160 several days being detained in the desert by CBP with 0:36:04.200 --> 0:36:07.960 inefficient water, no shelter, and very little food, and no 0:36:08.040 --> 0:36:10.000 information on what was happening or how long they could 0:36:10.000 --> 0:36:13.640 expect to be there. Sadly didn't get there in time 0:36:13.719 --> 0:36:16.080 to speak to any of them. I was in Arizona 0:36:16.120 --> 0:36:18.560 looking for border of vigilantes and wondering what CBP had 0:36:18.600 --> 0:36:20.879 been doing to migrants there where they have the full 0:36:20.920 --> 0:36:23.680 support of local law enforcement and a large percentage of 0:36:23.680 --> 0:36:27.439 the aging population. To my surprise, I didn't find much. 0:36:28.280 --> 0:36:30.000 It seems like most people had crossed in the San 0:36:30.080 --> 0:36:33.360 Diego County area. Many had flown or walked to Tijuana. 0:36:34.200 --> 0:36:36.919 Of course, migrants, just like us, have accessed the news 0:36:36.960 --> 0:36:40.080 and to weather forecast and maps. Crossing in Arizona, a 0:36:40.080 --> 0:36:42.880 place known for cruelty and very hot weather doesn't make 0:36:42.920 --> 0:36:46.040 any sense when California offers a better political and weather climate, 0:36:46.280 --> 0:36:48.919 and with the mixed messages coming down about immigration law, 0:36:48.920 --> 0:36:51.920 these folks may not have been intending to evade border patrol, 0:36:52.280 --> 0:36:53.879 but to come to the USA and to take their 0:36:53.960 --> 0:36:57.759 legal right to claim asylum. I spoke to Sam, a 0:36:57.840 --> 0:37:01.200 volunteer with extensive on the ground experience and umanitarian crises, 0:37:01.680 --> 0:37:03.080 about what he'd seen at the camp. 0:37:03.640 --> 0:37:05.120 Oh my name is Sam Schultz. 0:37:05.680 --> 0:37:07.440 He said, many of the people who found themselves in 0:37:07.480 --> 0:37:10.600 a cumber had likely been told by people smokelers, but 0:37:10.680 --> 0:37:13.399 this was an easy way into the US. In the end, 0:37:13.560 --> 0:37:14.359 it was anything but. 0:37:14.680 --> 0:37:17.120 They I mean, I know they didn't expect that they 0:37:17.120 --> 0:37:20.240 were just waltz across the border at a normal check station. 0:37:20.440 --> 0:37:22.480 But they thought it was going to be they were 0:37:22.520 --> 0:37:23.399 sold in bill of goods. 0:37:23.400 --> 0:37:24.279 So let's put it that way. 0:37:24.640 --> 0:37:24.839 Walk. 0:37:25.200 --> 0:37:29.120 Yes, that's it. And so I mean, I feel sorry 0:37:29.120 --> 0:37:31.120 for anybody who's taken advantage of all like that. But 0:37:31.320 --> 0:37:33.480 most of the people that I met again who are 0:37:33.520 --> 0:37:37.680 not Colombians, were of the wealthier side of the on 0:37:37.800 --> 0:37:41.759 their countries. I met some of Becky's, some Kazakis, a 0:37:41.800 --> 0:37:44.600 bunch of people from India, a couple of Pakistani guys. 0:37:45.480 --> 0:37:47.320 I mean, they didn't get here cheap. 0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:50.200 The wall behind the people in Hookumba cost twenty five 0:37:50.239 --> 0:37:53.560 million dollars a mile. On average. The border patrol agent 0:37:53.719 --> 0:37:55.960 drove around in f one to fifty rapped to trucks 0:37:56.239 --> 0:37:59.480 that started eighty thousand dollars and each make a starting 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:03.480 salary of sixty thousand dollars in their first year. Surveillance 0:38:03.520 --> 0:38:06.560 towers that dot the desert, including one which provided a 0:38:06.600 --> 0:38:09.680 tiny scrap of shade to migrants resting under its solar panels, 0:38:10.080 --> 0:38:12.920 can cost a million dollars apiece, but people in the 0:38:12.960 --> 0:38:16.440 cumber received only one small water bottle each day, despite 0:38:16.440 --> 0:38:20.640 the punishing weather Although Customs and Border Protection did not 0:38:20.680 --> 0:38:23.080 seem to make any plan to shelter migrants in Cucumber, 0:38:23.520 --> 0:38:26.640 they did plan to have contractors paid forty dollars an 0:38:26.640 --> 0:38:30.240 hour to take them away. I found a job advert 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:34.839 for a Southwest Border Transportation and Security officer at ISS 0:38:34.880 --> 0:38:39.240 Action Security. The agency photograph transporting migrants in the Cumber. 0:38:40.040 --> 0:38:42.799 The job posting, which was posted two weeks before the 0:38:42.840 --> 0:38:46.000 end of Title forty two, has a description that includes 0:38:46.280 --> 0:38:49.800 patting down all detainees and applying appropriate restraints prior to 0:38:49.880 --> 0:38:55.399 boarding vehicles. The process through its migrants become detainees normally 0:38:55.440 --> 0:38:59.040 involves processing which had not been done in Nucumber, but 0:38:59.080 --> 0:39:01.960 it seems a presumption of ineligibility announced on the day 0:39:01.960 --> 0:39:03.800 Title forty two ended came into effect. 0:39:03.800 --> 0:39:04.000 Here. 0:39:04.719 --> 0:39:07.719 This might seem a minor distinction, but it's important. It 0:39:07.800 --> 0:39:10.200 means that people have to file a defensive asylum claim 0:39:10.239 --> 0:39:12.960 and not an affirmative one. They have to plead why 0:39:12.960 --> 0:39:15.080 they shouldn't be deported, rather than why they have a 0:39:15.160 --> 0:39:18.960 right to stay. Many of the people who have been 0:39:18.960 --> 0:39:20.960 trying to cross before the end of Title forty two, 0:39:21.040 --> 0:39:23.560 like Diana, because they felt they would face a less 0:39:23.560 --> 0:39:26.400 serious penalty. Many of them flew to t Win I 0:39:26.520 --> 0:39:29.399 walked from further south in Mexico or even in Central America. 0:39:29.520 --> 0:39:31.960 I likely spent their entire savings on a trip to 0:39:31.960 --> 0:39:34.239 the gap in the wall near Haucumber that ended with 0:39:34.320 --> 0:39:36.520 them being held by border patrol in the open desert 0:39:36.520 --> 0:39:38.600 with next to nothing in the way of shelter, sanitation, 0:39:39.040 --> 0:39:42.439 or sustenance. As a way to quantify this, I want 0:39:42.440 --> 0:39:47.240 a reference to UCSD US Immigration Policy Center report apparently 0:39:47.280 --> 0:39:51.040 had some pretty problematic practices, but anyway, these are results 0:39:51.080 --> 0:39:55.040 from its survey. When asked whether border patrol gave them 0:39:55.120 --> 0:39:57.680 enough water for the day, over half of the asylum 0:39:57.719 --> 0:40:01.080 seekers that we interviewed, approximately fifty three perc said no. 0:40:01.680 --> 0:40:04.680 Border patrol distributed one water bottle to each migrant in 0:40:04.719 --> 0:40:08.000 the morning. When asked where the border patrol gave them 0:40:08.080 --> 0:40:10.880 enough food for the day, all of the asylum seekers 0:40:11.000 --> 0:40:15.359 said no. Border patrol did not distribute any food. When 0:40:15.400 --> 0:40:19.120 asked where the border patrol provided adequate sanitation such as toilets, 0:40:19.560 --> 0:40:22.440 all of the asylum seekers that we interviewed, meaning one 0:40:22.560 --> 0:40:26.360 hundred percent, said no. Border patrol provided one porter body 0:40:26.400 --> 0:40:30.320 for the entire encampment. When asked where the border patrol 0:40:30.520 --> 0:40:33.120 provided adepriate shelter, such as shade to protect them from 0:40:33.120 --> 0:40:36.200 the sun, all of the asylum seekers that we interviewed 0:40:36.320 --> 0:40:40.480 said no. Border patrol did not provide any shelter. When 0:40:40.560 --> 0:40:43.160 asked where the border patrol provided blankets to keep them 0:40:43.200 --> 0:40:46.000 warm at night, all but one of the asylum seekers 0:40:46.000 --> 0:40:50.200 we interviewed said no. Border patrol provided blankets. Some migrants, 0:40:50.440 --> 0:40:54.919 but the overwhelming majority, did not receive blankets. Altogether, two 0:40:55.000 --> 0:40:57.839 thirds of the asylum seekers we interviewed said that they 0:40:57.880 --> 0:41:01.160 agree or strongly agree with the statement if I did 0:41:01.200 --> 0:41:04.040 not receive food and water from volunteers, I would not 0:41:04.080 --> 0:41:06.760 get enough food and water from border patrol to survive. 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:12.319 These aren't exaggerations, as we'll see, several migrants did come 0:41:12.440 --> 0:41:14.480 very close to losing their lives in the five or 0:41:14.520 --> 0:41:16.920 more days that CBP detained people out in the open 0:41:17.000 --> 0:41:43.360 along the border. Medical incidents in this kind of attention 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:46.840 are far from uncommon. A lawsuit filed against Customers to 0:41:46.880 --> 0:41:50.080 Border Protection by the Southern Border Communities Coalition regarding their 0:41:50.120 --> 0:41:53.759 actions this week stated that quote many migrants have fallen 0:41:53.760 --> 0:41:56.920 into medical distress because of the conditions and CBP has 0:41:56.960 --> 0:42:00.279 been slow to provide access to medical attention, often only 0:42:00.320 --> 0:42:03.919 responding at the insistence of advocates. As a result, one 0:42:03.920 --> 0:42:07.880 woman suffered life threatening allergies, a child suffered an epileptic seizure, 0:42:08.200 --> 0:42:10.759 and a man suffered an unattended infection on his leg. 0:42:11.920 --> 0:42:14.359 Medical attention was slow to arrive, and when it did arrive, 0:42:14.480 --> 0:42:17.960 it was often insufficient. Like Kay, but describe the conditions 0:42:17.960 --> 0:42:19.640 they saw a couple of days after the end of 0:42:19.640 --> 0:42:20.480 Title forty two. 0:42:20.920 --> 0:42:23.320 It's really the product that it's hard to under state. 0:42:24.480 --> 0:42:29.719 The conditions there were not safe or sanitary. I guess 0:42:29.719 --> 0:42:32.719 this is sort of related to medical issues, but there was. 0:42:33.400 --> 0:42:36.400 It's been, you know, to their credit. The suspect has 0:42:36.440 --> 0:42:40.840 been reported in the media that there was a single 0:42:41.280 --> 0:42:44.600 portable toilet for anywhere from I guess there's probably twenty 0:42:44.680 --> 0:42:48.239 to four hundred people there. I heard a couple of 0:42:48.239 --> 0:42:53.440 different citations of how often this toilet is serviced and 0:42:53.719 --> 0:42:57.759 cleaned and the waste removed anywhere from once or twice 0:42:57.760 --> 0:43:01.200 a week to once every week or two weeks. Either way, 0:43:01.280 --> 0:43:04.600 that's not remotely sufficient for four hundred people using the 0:43:04.600 --> 0:43:08.120 back room multiple times a day in this single portable 0:43:08.160 --> 0:43:12.839 like just a construction site toilet. It was right next 0:43:12.880 --> 0:43:15.040 to the phone charging station on their side of the wall. 0:43:15.160 --> 0:43:19.399 And my I would just feel sick if I get 0:43:19.440 --> 0:43:22.320 if I sit too close to it. It was really vile. 0:43:22.800 --> 0:43:26.239 It was not safe. It is not a way for 0:43:26.320 --> 0:43:28.839 people to be helping. And I do know, I think 0:43:28.840 --> 0:43:33.759 a lot of thankfully people stop using it, but then 0:43:33.880 --> 0:43:36.440 they don't have any you know, a privacy or that 0:43:36.520 --> 0:43:39.120 it's still not you know, a sanitary in a situation 0:43:39.200 --> 0:43:40.680 to be in since I mean, they don't have a 0:43:40.680 --> 0:43:44.959 future for space. So that's definitely one of the ways 0:43:45.000 --> 0:43:47.319 that people are being fed in terms of their health 0:43:47.360 --> 0:43:48.040 and safety. 0:43:48.160 --> 0:43:51.040 Here's Amara who hear more from tomorrow describe being inn 0:43:51.080 --> 0:43:51.960 of a medical incident. 0:43:52.160 --> 0:43:53.960 And the call that I got this morning was of 0:43:53.960 --> 0:43:58.000 a woman who was rushed out because she had an 0:43:58.080 --> 0:44:01.960 emergency situation, taken to the hospital. The hospital didn't know 0:44:02.000 --> 0:44:04.160 what to do with her, so they sent her right 0:44:04.200 --> 0:44:06.279 back here in the middle of the night. In the 0:44:06.280 --> 0:44:08.839 middle of the night and they brought her here. She 0:44:08.880 --> 0:44:11.759 doesn't have any documents. CBP didn't get a chance to 0:44:11.800 --> 0:44:14.840 process her yet, so she doesn't even have any proof 0:44:14.920 --> 0:44:17.680 that she actually came to the port of entry and 0:44:17.719 --> 0:44:20.920 try to seek asylum. And she was just sleeping right here. 0:44:21.040 --> 0:44:24.360 And she has burns all over her body, has an infection. 0:44:24.560 --> 0:44:25.040 I read the. 0:44:26.840 --> 0:44:30.520 Seven medications that they gave her, and she speaks daddy. 0:44:30.600 --> 0:44:31.839 She's from Avon as Than. 0:44:32.200 --> 0:44:35.040 Her husband got taken by the Taliban and she escaped, 0:44:35.160 --> 0:44:38.040 running for her life. And she's here and she has 0:44:38.600 --> 0:44:41.719 sunburns all over her face and she has nowhere to go. 0:44:41.960 --> 0:44:44.359 She thought she was still detained. She actually thought she 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:46.640 was still detained. She was just trying to get back 0:44:46.680 --> 0:44:48.880 to the other side of the border. She thought she 0:44:48.960 --> 0:44:52.360 was still in Mexico. No one explained anything to her. 0:44:52.440 --> 0:44:54.719 They brought her back here in the middle of the night, 0:44:54.920 --> 0:44:57.960 and she was freezing and so wet. 0:44:58.080 --> 0:45:00.000 That's why I came out here. I talked to her. 0:45:00.080 --> 0:45:00.200 Her. 0:45:00.360 --> 0:45:02.200 The other folks who were out here didn't know why 0:45:02.320 --> 0:45:05.680 she was just sleeping here, and I came out and 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:07.000 tried and translated. 0:45:07.080 --> 0:45:08.680 And now we have her at a hotel. 0:45:09.400 --> 0:45:09.680 Okay. 0:45:09.680 --> 0:45:12.120 The witness one of the emergencies described in the Southern 0:45:12.120 --> 0:45:15.399 Border Communities Coalition lawsuit. When they visited the camp, he's 0:45:15.640 --> 0:45:16.879 describing it in. 0:45:16.880 --> 0:45:19.399 Terms of you know, medical care as well. I guess 0:45:19.440 --> 0:45:22.680 in one of the parts of the aid operation I 0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:25.279 was my known was most people. I think there's a 0:45:25.280 --> 0:45:28.759 probination both of people who were you know, and then 0:45:28.840 --> 0:45:31.880 street medicine as well as people who were like nurses 0:45:31.960 --> 0:45:35.920 volunteering their prime and things like that and mostly taking 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:38.200 care of just kind of protain first aid for the 0:45:38.239 --> 0:45:43.280 most part. There was a situation where someone was having 0:45:43.600 --> 0:45:51.080 an a perject reaction, a fairly severe one, and I 0:45:51.360 --> 0:45:53.960 happened to carry in EpiPens, so I simply that to 0:45:56.719 --> 0:45:59.000 one of one of the street medics, and then they 0:45:59.040 --> 0:45:59.920 eventually did. 0:46:01.239 --> 0:46:02.040 All this person. 0:46:03.080 --> 0:46:06.239 The reaction bought severe enough that it was an an 0:46:06.320 --> 0:46:09.840 hour or so later at that none one was called, 0:46:10.000 --> 0:46:14.680 I assumed by one of the volunteers, and uh Amber 0:46:14.760 --> 0:46:16.879 Valance and Border patrol came to open the gate and 0:46:17.040 --> 0:46:20.520 bring this person into the country. They did eventually treat her, 0:46:20.520 --> 0:46:22.759 but it was a very it was a long time 0:46:22.760 --> 0:46:26.799 a from thence that of somethings, which is someone as 0:46:26.800 --> 0:46:31.000 someone who has anaphylexis reactions food and it's had that 0:46:31.040 --> 0:46:33.680 happened many times in her life. That is absolutely terrifying. 0:46:33.920 --> 0:46:36.640 I cannot imagine how terrifying. It would be to be 0:46:36.719 --> 0:46:41.719 experiencing a life writing situation when you work for RAPS 0:46:42.880 --> 0:46:45.839 and and and you know there's no authority that really 0:46:45.880 --> 0:46:48.600 cares that you're there. And I don't know if she 0:46:48.640 --> 0:46:50.640 would have been able to get help if there have 0:46:50.760 --> 0:46:53.759 been volunteers on I said for the wall, especially once with. 0:46:53.800 --> 0:46:59.080 Practical training, where volunteers weren't. Things were worse in Texas, 0:46:59.400 --> 0:47:02.399 and I just a Reyes Alvarez, an eight year old 0:47:02.480 --> 0:47:07.080 girl born in Panama to Honduran parents, died in CBP custody. 0:47:08.160 --> 0:47:12.920 Rossell Rees, the girl's father, told NBC News that they 0:47:12.960 --> 0:47:16.959 gave authorities documents about the girl's medical conditions congenital heart 0:47:16.960 --> 0:47:20.560 disease and sickle cellonemia while they were in immigration custody. 0:47:21.640 --> 0:47:24.400 They said that a doctor there examined dan adeath and 0:47:24.440 --> 0:47:29.680 that she had contracted the flu. Alvarez her mother said 0:47:29.719 --> 0:47:32.799 she spoke to both detention authorities and medical personnel at 0:47:32.800 --> 0:47:35.920 the station multiple times to explain her daughter was complaining 0:47:35.920 --> 0:47:38.360 of pain and shortness of breath and that she was 0:47:38.400 --> 0:47:41.680 getting worse. I'll quite the next part directly from the 0:47:41.719 --> 0:47:46.760 NBC story. They never listened to me, she said, Reyes 0:47:46.760 --> 0:47:49.239 said his daughter was in a lot of pain, a 0:47:49.280 --> 0:47:52.719 lot of pain. I begged them to call an ambulance, 0:47:53.000 --> 0:47:56.640 Alvarez said, adding their authorities told her the girl's condition 0:47:56.760 --> 0:48:00.759 wasn't serious enough to warrant calling an ambulance. Avarez said 0:48:00.760 --> 0:48:04.360 her daughter begged authorities as well, telling them she could 0:48:04.360 --> 0:48:07.960 not breathe from her nose or mouth. Avares says that 0:48:08.040 --> 0:48:12.360 eventually her daughter lost consciousness and died in my arms. 0:48:14.440 --> 0:48:16.759 She said, authorities took the girl from her arms and 0:48:16.800 --> 0:48:20.759 put her on the floor trying to revive her. My 0:48:20.880 --> 0:48:25.680 daughter died there in the station, she said. Avare said 0:48:25.719 --> 0:48:27.920 she feels authorities did not do enough to help her 0:48:27.920 --> 0:48:32.399 little girl. My daughter is a human being. They had 0:48:32.400 --> 0:48:35.799 to take care of her, she said. Despite what you 0:48:35.840 --> 0:48:38.440 might have heard on the network news, the asylum process 0:48:38.480 --> 0:48:41.799 is anything but easy. I've had several visas, a Green 0:48:41.880 --> 0:48:44.239 card and a US passport, and I can compily tell 0:48:44.239 --> 0:48:46.279 you the only easy way I've ever seen to come 0:48:46.360 --> 0:48:49.640 here is to be very rich. But even among the 0:48:49.640 --> 0:48:53.560 convoluted bureaucratic mess at his US immigration, the asylum process 0:48:53.600 --> 0:48:57.799 stands out as both rigorous and complicated. Asylum is a 0:48:57.840 --> 0:49:00.520 process by which people unable are unwilling to return to 0:49:00.560 --> 0:49:03.759 their country because of persecution or a well founded fear 0:49:03.760 --> 0:49:09.480 of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, politics, or 0:49:09.560 --> 0:49:12.799 membership of a particular social group may remain in a 0:49:12.840 --> 0:49:16.799 safe country. From the eleventh of May onwards, migrants at 0:49:16.800 --> 0:49:20.200 the border were assumed ineligible for asylum. If they cross 0:49:20.280 --> 0:49:23.840 between points of entry, they must enter the defensive asylum 0:49:23.920 --> 0:49:27.480 process to prevent themselves from being deported. What this means 0:49:27.480 --> 0:49:29.520 for people we heard from earlier is that they are 0:49:29.560 --> 0:49:32.040 now taken, for whatever God forsake and holding area. They're 0:49:32.080 --> 0:49:35.680 in a bust to a processing facility where they're interviewed 0:49:35.680 --> 0:49:37.719 by an asylum officer to determine if they have a 0:49:37.719 --> 0:49:40.799 credible fear of persecution. They may need to provide a 0:49:40.840 --> 0:49:44.120 translator if there is an interviewing agent who speaks their language, 0:49:44.480 --> 0:49:46.839 and if they're determined to have a credible fear, they're 0:49:46.840 --> 0:49:48.880 told to check in with the US Customs and Immigration 0:49:48.960 --> 0:49:52.200 Office and sometimes given a notice which may or may 0:49:52.239 --> 0:49:55.400 not be dated to appear in court. My colleague Jo 0:49:55.520 --> 0:49:57.439 tried to get into one of these hotels to talk 0:49:57.440 --> 0:49:59.360 to one of the people we'd spoken to at the border, 0:49:59.680 --> 0:50:01.200 but he was pretty quickly shut down. 0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:03.080 Yeah, how you either. 0:50:04.200 --> 0:50:05.920 I'm a freelance journalist. 0:50:06.080 --> 0:50:07.759 I'm here reporting. 0:50:07.280 --> 0:50:09.680 For my boss, James Stout. He's at iHeartMedia. 0:50:10.000 --> 0:50:12.200 I'm wondering if you're letting media in here to see. 0:50:12.040 --> 0:50:14.319 The guys said only not okay. 0:50:13.760 --> 0:50:16.480 Also the actually guys and not the strict n of 0:50:16.480 --> 0:50:17.720 this area here Okay. 0:50:17.719 --> 0:50:19.120 So if we're going to set up, it has to 0:50:19.160 --> 0:50:20.440 be on the side of the line. 0:50:20.320 --> 0:50:21.920 Because I'm a lot of traffic. 0:50:22.000 --> 0:50:23.680 Yeah, and it's very dangerous for your pa. 0:50:23.960 --> 0:50:25.920 So like beyond here, a past the college. 0:50:26.040 --> 0:50:28.279 Yeah, from here over okay, cool, I'll. 0:50:28.160 --> 0:50:28.839 Say how you're working. 0:50:28.880 --> 0:50:29.120 Thank you. 0:50:30.520 --> 0:50:32.359 One of the folks we'd met was able to stay 0:50:32.400 --> 0:50:34.600 in touch for our WhatsApp and share the hotel rules 0:50:34.600 --> 0:50:38.480 with us. They were pretty strict. Migrants are confined to 0:50:38.520 --> 0:50:40.719 their rooms, they can't have visitors, and they can't even 0:50:40.800 --> 0:50:44.839 order food delivery from the hotel where they're hosted by 0:50:44.880 --> 0:50:47.840 Catholic charities. Migrants need to get to their sponsor in 0:50:47.840 --> 0:50:50.120 the United States if they have one. If they don't 0:50:50.120 --> 0:50:52.200 have one, they can be sent just about anywhere. I've 0:50:52.239 --> 0:50:54.640 heard of East African folks having ended up in Alaska, 0:50:54.680 --> 0:50:58.080 for example. Once they get to where they're going to be, 0:50:58.480 --> 0:51:01.560 they check him with US Customs and Immigration Services in 0:51:01.600 --> 0:51:04.040 their new location, and they're given a special phone which 0:51:04.040 --> 0:51:07.200 also tracks their movements. They may have a DNA sample 0:51:07.239 --> 0:51:11.200 take and in addition to fingerprints. Later, sometimes years later, 0:51:11.480 --> 0:51:13.719 they attend a court hearing or two to determine their 0:51:13.719 --> 0:51:17.480 eligibility to stay. I've heard of lawyers charging from five 0:51:17.520 --> 0:51:20.799 thousand dollars to twelve thousand dollars for these hearings, and 0:51:21.040 --> 0:51:23.960 nonprofit legalists and services are totally overwhelmed. At the moment, 0:51:24.800 --> 0:51:27.839 the systems massively backed up, and court dates are being 0:51:27.840 --> 0:51:31.080 given as far out as twenty twenty seven already. They 0:51:31.120 --> 0:51:33.440 may or may not be able to work during that period. 0:51:33.800 --> 0:51:36.360 Another table, work is getting harder and harder to find. 0:51:37.280 --> 0:51:40.160 Even if they do find work on less than minimum wage, 0:51:40.280 --> 0:51:42.240 it can be very hard to say about five thousand 0:51:42.280 --> 0:51:45.200 dollars for a lawyer. A Migrants who can't find nonprofit 0:51:45.200 --> 0:51:47.560 help are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to 0:51:47.600 --> 0:51:52.400 their asylum hearings. Again, private security contractors, this time from Allied, 0:51:53.120 --> 0:51:57.200 were transporting migrants to the hotel and guarding it. Like CBP. 0:51:57.480 --> 0:52:00.840 The private contractors you guard, transport and incs rate migrants 0:52:00.920 --> 0:52:03.680 or rely on the broken in immigration system to make money. 0:52:04.360 --> 0:52:08.319 Unlike CBP, the agents themselves aren't well paid. Nineteen dollars 0:52:08.360 --> 0:52:10.799 an hours are going great for Allied, not much higher 0:52:10.800 --> 0:52:14.040 than San Diego's sixteen dollars and thirty cents minimum wage. 0:52:14.719 --> 0:52:17.680 But the company itself is huge. It's the third last 0:52:17.719 --> 0:52:20.800 yearest private employer in North America after Walmart and Amazon. 0:52:21.760 --> 0:52:25.320 Allied guards are at prisons, airports, and shopping malls across America, 0:52:25.760 --> 0:52:28.960 and it's alleged that some are underpaid, intufficiently trained, and 0:52:29.000 --> 0:52:34.200 improperly vetted. The company grosses over twenty billion dollars, and 0:52:34.480 --> 0:52:38.440 it's affiliates are frequent political donors. All across this story 0:52:38.480 --> 0:52:44.160 you'll see this Allied Security iss action security people, smugglers, 0:52:44.200 --> 0:52:47.440 customs and border protection, contractors who build the war pieces 0:52:47.520 --> 0:52:50.879 and contractors who install the wall pieces, General Atomics who 0:52:50.920 --> 0:52:54.200 sell CBP drones, and the Israelian American companies who sell 0:52:54.239 --> 0:52:58.360 the surveillance technology to the government. All these people make money, 0:52:59.000 --> 0:53:00.640 but the poorest people in the world are the only 0:53:00.680 --> 0:53:03.840 ones losing money, and sometimes they're lives when they cross 0:53:03.840 --> 0:53:07.440 our southern border. Tomorrow we'll hear from some of the 0:53:07.440 --> 0:53:10.360 people who made no money and looked after the migrants, 0:53:10.480 --> 0:53:17.320 and we'll continue to support them through the asylum process. 0:53:17.560 --> 0:53:20.040 It Could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media. 0:53:20.160 --> 0:53:22.800 For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 0:53:22.840 --> 0:53:25.080 cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 0:53:25.120 --> 0:53:28.560 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 0:53:29.120 --> 0:53:31.240 You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated 0:53:31.320 --> 0:53:35.360 monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.