WEBVTT - Amos Immigration Journey Part 1 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:07.480 CAUs Media. 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.360 Hi everyone, it's James and today I've got a two 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:15.080 part episode for you. Initially, I'd planned to have my 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.079 friend Emmett and Dave talk to me about the shelters 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.000 that we've all been building in Acumba because the weather's 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:24.200 getting worse and worse. But we were able to connect 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.000 with Amos, who is one of the migrants who has 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.600 spent time in outdoor detention sadly and then in indoor 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:33.720 detentions you'll hear, and I really wanted to sort of 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:36.479 refocus this episode on sharing Amos's story because I think, 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:38.840 as I've said countless times right that if we don't 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:40.919 spend a migrants in our reporting about migration, then we're 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.360 doing it wrong. And so you will hear introductions from Dave, 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.640 and you will hear introductions from Emmett, and you'll heard 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.279 a little bit from them next episode about how we're 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.320 building the yes but we'll bring you that episode another 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.600 time because I wanted this episode to be mostly about 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:04.200 Amos's migration journey. Hello everybody, it's me James. I am 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.679 hosting It could Happen here today again, and I'm joined 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.280 by my friends Amos and Emmett and potentially later our 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.399 friend David. We're going to talk today again about the 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.640 situation in Hitecomba. Amos is one of the people who 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.000 we've detained in the outdoor detention sites, and it's going 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.039 to explain some of his experience. And then Emmittt is 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.679 someone who has been working with a group of people, 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:30.360 including myself, to build shelters for migrants, to build slightly 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.920 more permanent, slightly more improved shelters. Unfortunately, Bottom Control has 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:39.600 taken upon themselves to instruct migrants to destroy those shelters. 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:41.679 And so we're going to talk about how we built them, 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.880 what we learn when we're building them, and unfortunately the 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.960 fact that they have been destroyed. So I'm going to 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.640 ask our three guests to introduce themselves. David is here now, 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:57.000 so we'll start with you Amos, and then Emmett and 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.360 then David. Just tell us who you are and anything 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:00.960 you think is right limit about yourself. 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.840 So I guess thank you for the invite. I appreciate 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:08.480 the opportunity to to add whatever I can to this 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.799 very very important subject. I happen to be. I call 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:17.280 myself an accidental and legal immigrant, if you want to 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:21.320 put it that way for due to some family circumstances, 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:28.120 I found myself following the new migratory road, I mean 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:33.079 road that has taken me through. I lost count ten 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:39.080 or twelve countries starting from North Africa all the way 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:45.000 to the border with the United States. So that's me 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.680 and uh what you know? I mean, I would I 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.640 would love nothing more but to add to this conversation. 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.400 Thank you him. My name is Emmitt. I am a 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.280 volunteer with Berlin's Release Collective. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.960 And then David, would you like to finish up introducing yourself. 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.840 Hi, my name's David. I'm a volunteer with Borderlands Relief 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:10.320 Collective as well as Attention Resistance, I do water drops 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.960 and I've also been helping out as a volunteer in 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:21.079 the Border Patrol open air detention sites, doing work as 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:25.400 a medic and helping out building these shelters. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:25.720 Great. 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.760 Yeah, thank you, Thank you so much everyone. So, I 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.840 think everyone will be interested in hearing Amos's story. So 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.680 as far as you're comfortable sharing, Amos, and there's no 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.840 need to share anything that you're not comfortable with or 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:41.680 don't want to share, can you tell us about your 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.080 journey from North Africa to the United States, and I 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:50.080 think we've been particularly interested in how people are finding 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.680 out about these obviously these big gaps in the wall 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.120 that are in Cucumber, and how people are ending up 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:56.440 there from all over the world. 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:01.800 Now right, well, buckle up a long journey, James, It's 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:07.000 a long one. So for me personally, it started with 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:15.160 a sort of an accidental separation from my family. My 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:20.960 wife and kids for reasons importunate reasons, had to go 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.919 to go back to the United States, and I was not. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.039 I was denied a visa to join them. They went 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:33.000 for initially for to mourn the law the loss of 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.039 a brother in law, I mean a brother in law, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:43.320 and unfortunately I wasn't able to get there by obtaining 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.200 a visa to do so. So I spent six seven 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:52.040 months arguing with the embassy. Was not given any legal 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.680 reasoning for wide my visa was denied. I've lived in 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.120 the United States for the sixteen years. I've had a 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:04.800 Clington record with one arrest and release and it was 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.760 part of a protest that really that happened in Los 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:14.279 Angeles and were released right away, and basically I left 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.599 in twenty fifteen. I'd got to think the clean hands 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:23.120 and no issues and then going back to Tunisia where 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:28.680 I was with my new family anyhow. So basically I 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.640 was denied visa I really wanted to do. I've never 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.159 done anything illegal in my life. I wanted to do 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:40.240 the legal route, following what's been always told that, you know, 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.680 follow their legal route, don't come illegally. So that was 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.080 not even a question in my mind. You know, you know, 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:49.800 the wife is American, the kids are American. I mean, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.400 I just it shouldn't be an issue. But I really 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.800 was confronted with I mean, I can safely say bye 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.159 by now it's a bias. It's got to be some 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.400 racism just by by by deduction really, because when you 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.000 run out of reasoning, you have to really start making 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.599 these sad and you know said conclusions. So yeah, so 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:17.599 basically no again, that was that took me on a 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:22.240 long and painful depression and anxiety and a cocktail of 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.880 mental health issues that I'm still actually dealing with right now. 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.840 And it took my kids, my two kids, my beautiful kids, 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.320 through therapy and they're still going through therapy. My wife 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.640 is going through therapy. I'm going through therapy, and it 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.080 took it blew apart in this family. We're still trying 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.880 to figure out why so much you know nothing but 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.520 to define it. But hey, really there is no other 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.839 way of putting it. So and again I just the 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:54.000 discussion was with my friends in America has been very 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.520 difficult because they have no understanding or concept of what 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.640 you know, the diplomat whore is doing and what is 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.800 the these embassies are doing because there is no there 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.200 is no access to them by Americans. It's just usually 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:14.080 foreigners who do and that really creates like this black 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:19.920 hole of tax money going to these embassies. And then 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.720 what they're doing is just just with a stroke of 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:27.160 a pen, yes, yes or no, no explanation. You can't sue, 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.960 you can't appeal, you can't do. It's absolute power. And 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.480 then you know, I'm I'm mentioning this that the embassy 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.280 is because through my journey, through this long and painful journey, 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.520 I've met time and time again other fellow immigrants who 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:47.520 again tried to go through the LEAGUEA route were denied 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.320 with no reason, with no like, no written reason, no 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:55.120 no valid reason. So again you know, this this discussion 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.080 on on on and off again, and you know, among 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:04.360 consitizens as to why people are showing up in the border, well, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.080 I mean, at least in part, what I see is 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:11.640 no accountability whatsoever to the embassies. Like time and time again, 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.080 you have these embassies denying people who are trying to 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:16.920 do it the right way, trying to do it. They 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.880 either have family or work or whatever, and they're denied 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.640 time and time again. And then you have, you know, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.360 in the hundreds of thousands going through that process, and 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.560 of course they try, they try, and then eventually they 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.400 have no choice. So I'm not saying this is the 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.800 only explanation, but it's a big part of it. I've 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.840 spoken for people who are crossing and who are on 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.480 the way from anywhere from Brazil to Colombia to Ecuador, 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:50.160 to Panama, to Nicaragua, to Guatemala, to Belize, in Mexico 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.840 all across. I've come across so many people and they, 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.280 you know, at least I mean, my little humble mass 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:01.160 I would say fifty to sixty percent have tried to embassies, 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.240 but unfortunately, you know that, you know that they just 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.600 turned down. So, uh, this is an issue that is 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.400 not talked about. This is an issue they really get 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.760 away with. Scott Free, I mean, they really don't. There's 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.480 zero cond of I mean there are gods. I mean, 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.880 the ambassador have zero accountability now, I mean he he 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.400 is absolutely he has all the power and no cannability. 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.640 I mean, rarely you see ambassador being recalled by Congress. 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:32.360 Rarely you see an ambassador being questioned, Hey, why are 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:37.080 these these are demands being the the client, why what 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.520 are you doing about it? All that stuff? And you know, so, 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.840 so this is this is some of the stuff I 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.120 want to add to the conversation because nobody has ever 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:45.559 mentioned this. Nobody talks about this. 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.199 Yeah, so, yeah, it's very important. I think your experiences 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.360 is far from unique, as you've said, right, I have 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:58.960 seen hundreds of people carrying visa rejection letters come across 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:00.880 the sad and border. They've in them to me, right, 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.079 they are people who have been victims of some of 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.440 the worst things that can happen to human beings, and 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.839 they've survived them, and we've still refused to give these 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:11.560 people a safe place, so they've had to take their 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:22.719 journey in a more dangerous way. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.200 I mean I didn't see a single round person at 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.920 the embassy. It's all right again, I'm I hope you 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.920 guys don't feel like I've been like too. I'm just 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.920 being honest because I see it, and I'm I'm up 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.440 to date of what people are talking about and all 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.240 the discussions, and I see it, like you know, I 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.319 almost have a level of a of a right wing 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:53.640 supremacy style, like you know, I mean, just you feel it. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.800 You feel it. It's there. You have to be a 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.120 quote unquote round person or a minority person to feel it. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.840 I don't expect others to understand it, but we we 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.520 feel it. And this is a discussion I've had in 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:08.720 detention with a lot of the fellow detainees. There is 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.959 that sense, there's a sense that, you know, we're being 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.400 looked down at, not on our merits, but on you know, 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.480 a little bit of you know, assumptions because of where 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.080 you're from. Assumptions like you go in and it's already baked. 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.800 It's already baked. It's already And this is me. I've 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.000 had a visa from the US for sixteen years. I mean, 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.080 it should be a slam dunk, you know. So my 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.800 two kids are American, my wife, my wife is American. 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.520 We are and til today are so confused as to 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.679 why the denials happened. I mean, I've called Congress members 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.400 that David was with me today when I was at 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.959 the Congress Membership Shift Adam Shift in Bourbon, California, and 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.240 we you know, even they don't have an answer as 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.160 to why the denial happened. And you know, I mean 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:58.559 to close my personal issue, James. It's interesting because I 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.320 was told that perhaps you were illegally in the United 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.040 States between twenty thirteen twenty fifteen and then, but they 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.480 can't say for sure that was the reason. But in 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:14.200 detention when they when they did all the research on me, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.920 none of that existed, none of that, There is none 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.960 of that. They released me because they have nothing against me. Nothing. 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.880 And this is and this is the USCIES. This is 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.679 the Immigration Service, not the embassy coming up with some 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.160 of these you know, bogus ideas. You know, so again 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.640 it's a mess, and I feel like, you know this, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.679 this these embassies need to be looking into more because 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.360 the border patrol ends up feeling the blunt of all this. 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.439 But where does it start? Where is the source? It's 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.440 always the question of where is the source. Where the 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.200 source is, Yes, there's economic issues, there is there is 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.640 there is physical abuse. There's all kinds of stuff. But 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.720 then also there's tax dollars being spent in the billions 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.560 and the billions and hundreds of billions of these diplomatic course. 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.640 I mean to be fair, my journey was not was 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.560 not as difficult as many many, many, many many stories 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.120 that I've heard heart women, I mean really heartbreaking stories. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.280 My journey really, you know, I'm I'm somewhat to have 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.680 a somewhat of a sophisticated life in the sense that 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.160 you know, I spent a lot of time again, we wasted. 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:23.680 Most of the time that we wasted was waiting on 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.800 the embassy because they kept on dragon and dragging their feet, 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.680 six seven months waiting while my kids are crying on 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.199 the phone, and you know, we don't have the income 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.280 to to be to able to have them come back 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:39.320 to to to Tunisia where I was. So anyhow, so yeah, 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.200 I started by researching, researching, reading a lot of articles, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:47.040 researching as far as North Africa. The route that is 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.400 being used right now by mostly by a lot of 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:56.840 Mauritanians and West Africans. It goes through Turkey, uh and 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:01.560 then from Turkey they're going to Nicaragua because Nicaragua. Managua, 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:06.400 the capital of Nicaragua, they have allowed for visa and arrival, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:11.640 and then from and then from Managua there is literally 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:16.520 almost like travel companies doing packaging packages for upwards to 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.840 six seven thousand dollars from there to and then six 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.760 seven thousand dollars from Nicarago. But before Nicaragua there's at 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:31.480 least three four thousand dollars, so I'm told by I think, yeah, 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.400 the four Mauritanians that were detained, I'm told about ten 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.760 thousand dollars, which comes down to their local currency, about 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.200 forty five thousand of their local currency, which is a lot, 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.800 I mean a lot. So they so, like I said, 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:52.080 so they managed to get the flights to Nicaragua. Managua 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.359 has vis on an arrival for thirty days for North Africans, 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.480 and then from there you've got literally their journey through 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.880 I don't know, coyotes whatever you want to call them, 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:10.920 facilitators whatever, well established with buses through El Salvador, through 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:15.120 what Honduras, Honduras and Salvador, Guatemala, and then through Mexico. 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.720 So that's the route that's been you know, upwards of 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.760 six seven thousand more Tennians and West Africans as far 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.880 as the last articles that I've read have taken that route, 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.520 so I looked into it. I couldn't afford it, to 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.040 be honest with you, this is just you know, I 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:35.280 was sending money to my kids and wife because she 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.840 had to be on welfare. She just arrived there and 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.040 she had to kill the kids at school and there's 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.360 a lot of struggle, so I had to kind of 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.280 try to help with that. On the same time, I 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.080 was waiting on the embassy and we you know, and 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.840 the wife was calling them to see if how can 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:53.560 we expedite, can we do this, can we do this? 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.720 But they were literally rude and you know, treated her 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.000 like a second class citizen. I don't know why. We 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:00.000 still can't figure that out. 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:00.960 Uh. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:07.360 Anyhow, So another route right now, which is a difficult route, 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.560 is through Brazil because Brazil has a I don't know 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.880 if you guys know, and I think they do that 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:20.120 for Americans too. Yeah, so Brazil has sort of I 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.240 don't know the word, but the equivalence to them is 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.280 if you impose the visa on Brazil, Brazilians will impulsive 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.760 vision news. They do that to Americans too. So so 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.480 you know where I'm from. They don't have a visa 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.040 to uh as far as for Brazilians, so we don't. 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.000 So a lot of Africans can go to Brazil and 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:45.080 from Brazil take the route all the way. So David 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:50.240 mentioned the Amazon Strait where they crossed the jungle from 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.040 Colombia to Panama and so on and so forth. That 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:57.480 is I mean, I'm yes, the Darian the famous Darian Act. 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:03.440 That is to me personal. Man, it gives me chills 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.879 because the two or three guys that one of them 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.720 did it on his own with Google Maps. Man, I 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.119 don't know how the hell he did it. I have 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.159 no clue how he did it. I am. I was 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.800 listening and trying to understand them. Oh it was just 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:22.159 heart heartbreaking, you know, the suffering. So but yeah, I 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:26.040 through Brazil and then Colombia and then and keep on 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:32.520 going that way. That's another route for me. Uh. Again, 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.520 I booked flights. Uh, I didn't go through that trouble 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:41.600 to be fair, but I've had some issues with vy 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.200 is because North Africas don't get a lot of visa 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.840 access around the Latin America. We don't have a lot 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.520 of embassies there we don't have a lot of trade. 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.680 We don't have a lot of commerce between our countries, 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:56.000 so it's kind of an unknown UH an unknown commodity 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.000 in the sense that you know everything is is, you 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.720 know is new UH. For me, I was able to 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.119 get a visa to Colombia, and I'm very grateful to 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.439 choose Colombia because it's a it's affordable. It's been a 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.560 good experience for myself to get out of UH, me 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.439 get closer and on the same time figure out the 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.560 lay of the land and understand where I'm going. So 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.960 those I'm grateful for that. And from there, my goal 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.800 was to get a visa to Mexico and a lot 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.760 of and most of my American friends are still confused. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.439 That's why I would need a Mexican visa. That's a 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.600 whole other discussion. And then the Mexican visa has become 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.080 extremely difficult, almost as difficult as the American visa because 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.680 of pressure from the United States to stop the flow. 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:43.480 So again we end up making it very difficult for 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:47.520 people who want to legitimately do this. So finding an 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:51.440 appointment for a Mexican embassy, then you find out which 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.360 embassy of Mexico has appointments available. Some of them don't 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.600 have ever, some of them have them two years from now. 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:03.120 Some of them have them, you know, for a particular visa, 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:05.119 but not the other. And you know, so for me, 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:10.400 it was Colombia, and then I found an appointment in 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:15.360 for Mexican visa and Belize, but unfortunately I ended up 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:22.200 in you know, going from Colombia to Panama to Nicaragua 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.960 to Guatemala and then Belieze because Belize has not a 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:33.359 lot of flights from Latin America. And then when I 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:38.240 got to Guatemala, all the previous countries allowed me to 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.280 transit without a problem, but Guatemala decided to put me 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:47.760 in a detention for almost forty hours and then wanted 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.280 to return me back to to original country because they yeah, 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.960 so I'm like, I'm, I'm I'm My plane departs a 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.000 few hours of going to Belize. Why are you doing this? Please? 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.480 I'm not only the visit so to Guatemala. I'm not 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:06.200 going to Guatemala, nothing, no discussion. They threw me in there, cockroaches, 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.600 you name it. The whole Enchilada. I mean, no food, 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.480 no water, no nothing. I mean, you know, it's just sad, 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:14.760 very sad, very sad, very sad. That was a really 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.720 verd And then so I was sent back to Panama, 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.280 then from Panama to Colombia, and then Colombia that was 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:24.720 going to send me back to North Africa. So it 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:26.520 was going to be a really mess. So I had 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.040 to use some of my customer service skills that have 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:35.600 run through the years to wiggle myself where I last 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.560 minute was able to help some friends buy a ticket 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.679 to like you know, in the midnight hour. Really they 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.320 were going to send me. So I bought a ticket 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.119 to Ecuador, where I had a visa for ninety days. 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:50.639 So I was able to get out of that mess, 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.679 stay in Couador for a couple of weeks and then 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.880 try to get to Belize again. And the next time 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.439 I was successful in going to Belize through Panama and 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:05.359 then uh Nicaraguo, then straight to Belieze, avoiding Guatemala and 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:07.359 then Believe. I was there for a couple of weeks, 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.400 and then I was able to get a visa to Mexico, 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.920 thank God. And uh, there was a lot of Russians, 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:17.520 there was a lot of Turks, There was a lot 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.040 of no no, no Turks, Russians and a lot of 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.520 East Europeans trying to get a visa there too for 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:25.879 Mexico and basically yea. From there, it was the journey 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.320 of taking a bus from Belize to Cancun, can Coun 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.960 to Monterey, Monterrey to Cabo. I found a job, a 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:39.560 volunteering job in Porto es Condido. I'm a yoga practitioner, 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:43.840 and I found a yoga retreat there to try to 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.800 help me with my mental health and all that stuff. So, 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.879 uh yeah, So they're doing a great job. It's in 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.119 the middle of the wilderness. They're really present, you know, 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:57.359 working on natural preservation and in beautiful job they're doing there. 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:02.879 And then from there Goble's Lucas Lucas. I volunteered at 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:06.720 a hotel to kind of be able to eat and sleep, 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:12.000 and then from there Tijuana and Tijuana. I met someone 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:18.520 earlier in can Con, a Colombian who was all the 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:20.119 time I was in Mexico, I was trying to do 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:23.200 the app, the c if you we want app. 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:25.560 Yeah, and how was your experience with that? 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:30.960 Because absolutely absolutely horrible, absolutely horrible, absolutely horrible. I mean 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.639 it's just basically useless. It's useless and I met people 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.120 who have been there for two months on the app 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:37.920 and it didn't work. 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:40.640 Explain to me what didn't work about it? Like, did 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:41.440 it lok you out? 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:43.399 Did it? I wish I can send you screen. I 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:45.680 have screenshots that can send you to you can understand 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:48.960 what so. So it tells you, it tells you, it 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.280 tells you you're you're So, you sign up, you put 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.000 your information, you passport and all that stuff, and then 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:58.400 basically what you're doing is you're you're in the queue 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.639 and it's there's like a lot system where they didn't 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.000 see how long you've been waiting, how old are you, 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:07.160 where are you from. There's like a lottery system that 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:11.560 randomly selects people. So but again, you know, out of 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.200 a close to one hundred people in my detention cell, 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:18.240 you know room, everybody's saying we all tried, and none 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.080 of them, you know, got an appointment. I mean everybody 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:25.000 wants an appointment. I mean, who's in the rights, who's 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:27.280 in the right in his right mind would choose to 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.760 forego an appointment and go do throughout that trouble. So, 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:34.880 and if we could do a little bit of a math. Eventually, 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:36.880 at some point I spoke to the supervisor of the 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:40.640 Border Patrol detention center and he told me there eighteen 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:43.960 hundred people at any given point in that place. So 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:46.280 out of eighteen hundred people, and if my cell there 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:48.840 was about six cells or something or more than that 0:23:49.000 --> 0:23:51.600 much more, much more the six cells and then four blocks, 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:58.160 I think, sonyah, So uh yeah, I mean if about 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:00.840 out of one hundred, then you have nobody was able 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:04.360 to use the app then what's what's what's the tell? 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:07.159 Tell out of the eighteen hundred, maybe nine percent, I 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:10.600 mean all of them really, because if they did have appointment. Yeah, 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:13.600 if they had appointments, there would have been not in there, right, 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:14.920 I mean that's the key. 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:15.880 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:21.280