Speaker 1: Welcome to It could happen here, the podcast about the
Speaker 1: world falling apart and how we can put it back
Speaker 1: together again. I'm your host, Christopher Wong. Now. Three months
Speaker 1: ago we covered Great Abbot's attempt to shut down the
Speaker 1: border and how he was forced basically to back down
Speaker 1: by a Mexican trucker strike. And in that episode we
Speaker 1: mentioned that Abbot's newest stunt was deporting people from Texas
Speaker 1: to Washington, d C. To make Biden look bad by
Speaker 1: you know, moving the problem to him. And as a
Speaker 1: political stunt, this has largely failed as a humanitarian disaster,
Speaker 1: inflicting untold human misery on completely innocent people. It is
Speaker 1: still continuing to unfold. And here today to talk about
Speaker 1: this with us is Amy Fisher with Sanctuary d m
Speaker 1: V and the Migrants Solidarity Mutual Aid Network. Amy, thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us, and welcome to the show. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for having me so excited to be here. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: somewhat less excited that this is happening because dear God. Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: I guess to start off, do you want to tell
Speaker 1: us a bit about what's been I guess how this
Speaker 1: started in what the sort of initial reaction and non
Speaker 1: reaction of the d C government has been sure so UM.
Speaker 1: In April, Governor Abbotts started bussing people from the border
Speaker 1: to d C. UM. We knew from the get go
Speaker 1: that this was a racist publicity stunt, um, particularly because
Speaker 1: the first few busses were dropped off right in front
Speaker 1: of the Fox News building. UM, and we all initially
Speaker 1: thought it was going to be a few weeks of
Speaker 1: bussing people. And here we are, um in the middle
Speaker 1: of July, and the buses have kept coming. Um. Buses
Speaker 1: arrive to d C basically every single day of the
Speaker 1: week except for UM Monday evening and Tuesday mornings, and
Speaker 1: there have been probably around thirty people bussed from Texas
Speaker 1: to d C. And uh, not too long after, Governor
Speaker 1: Juicy of Arizona started doing the same thing and bussing
Speaker 1: people from the Arizona border to d C. And the
Speaker 1: d C government has basically been unwilling to grapple with
Speaker 1: the reality of what's happening. You know, people are arriving
Speaker 1: to d C with very very little resources, typically like
Speaker 1: the clothes on their back. Sometimes they don't even have
Speaker 1: shoes on their feet. When they get off the buses,
Speaker 1: and it's been, um kind of amazing to see the
Speaker 1: way that the d C community has responded. It's been
Speaker 1: like the type of response that makes me remarkably proud
Speaker 1: of being a DC resident and being from the area.
Speaker 1: And also, um, it's something that the DC government is
Speaker 1: turning in a blind eye to UM and pretending like, um,
Speaker 1: the reality that we are seeing when we are talking
Speaker 1: to people that are getting off the buses day in
Speaker 1: and day out, it's just it's like entirely different from
Speaker 1: what you know, the DC mayor is saying about the situation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I guess, well, okay, so before we talk, I
Speaker 1: guess fully about the DC governments just catastrophic. I don't
Speaker 1: even want to know if I want to say incompetence
Speaker 1: so much is just like we'll just let these people suffer. Um.
Speaker 1: Can we talk a bit about what what what the
Speaker 1: community responses look like and what y'all have been doing. Sure,
Speaker 1: so maybe to back up a little bit to to
Speaker 1: tell you about sort of like what the experiences of
Speaker 1: the people that are getting off the buses. These are
Speaker 1: people that are typically UM coming to the United States
Speaker 1: to seek asylum. They're being processed at the border for
Speaker 1: a few days. And I think what like have been
Speaker 1: commonly started to be referred to as like the Pereiras
Speaker 1: and jeleras at the border, so like the dog kennels,
Speaker 1: the ice boxes and the at the border and that
Speaker 1: are being paroled into the country and um, so the
Speaker 1: Customs and Border Protections CBP is releasing these folks to
Speaker 1: um like respite centers type of places at the border.
Speaker 1: UM in Texas. Most of the folks are coming from
Speaker 1: Del Rio and Eagle Path UM and then they're being
Speaker 1: told that there's these free busses to d C. And
Speaker 1: it's it's a little bit mind boggling because we know
Speaker 1: that Governor Abbott is doing these bus this bussing purely
Speaker 1: out of the most like racist xenophobic in pensions. And
Speaker 1: also for many of the folks, it's a free bus
Speaker 1: to to get to where they're trying to go. And
Speaker 1: so people are riding on the buses arriving in d
Speaker 1: C and then you know many of them are trying
Speaker 1: to get to other places along the east coast UM
Speaker 1: and many are planning on staying in d C. UM.
Speaker 1: And so what has happened is we've um developed a
Speaker 1: massive mutual aid response, which has been super cool. So,
Speaker 1: you know, we have a crew of volunteers that meet
Speaker 1: the buses when they arrive UM at Union Station. And
Speaker 1: if you're not familiar with d C, Union Station is
Speaker 1: sort of the big transit center and in the middle
Speaker 1: of d C UM actually relatively close to where the
Speaker 1: capital is. UM. It's sort of like the DC equivalent
Speaker 1: of like Penn Station in New York or something like that. UM.
Speaker 1: And so they're dropped off in front of Union Station.
Speaker 1: We have folks that will welcome them and UM typically
Speaker 1: we bring to folks to uh different churches around the
Speaker 1: area that have opened up their spaces as respite centers
Speaker 1: for us, and we uh you know, sit down with folks,
Speaker 1: We offer them some food and really try and talk
Speaker 1: through what their needs are and help them as best
Speaker 1: as we can meet those needs, whether it is you know,
Speaker 1: folks may have UM medical or like trauma that they
Speaker 1: need to work through. UM. Maybe they're trying to get
Speaker 1: to New York, and so we'll help them, you know,
Speaker 1: communicate with family members or help them find their way
Speaker 1: to New York. We you know, for the folks that
Speaker 1: are staying in DC, we've done our best to help them,
Speaker 1: you know, find a way to kind of get settled
Speaker 1: and put down roots in their new community, getting them
Speaker 1: connected to community members that help them you know, navigate DC,
Speaker 1: teach them how to use the metro, help them get
Speaker 1: to their you know, check in appointments as they're you know,
Speaker 1: having to jump through all of the hoops of ice
Speaker 1: and being surveilled by the state, and and helping them
Speaker 1: you know, have access to lawyers to explain their legal
Speaker 1: process and really just kind of like I don't know,
Speaker 1: I took a dude to to Target to be to
Speaker 1: like help them get go shopping, and you know, took
Speaker 1: folks to get uh, just like the random stuff that
Speaker 1: people need when they arrive in a new place in
Speaker 1: the same way that like, I don't know, if I
Speaker 1: had a friend moving to d C, I would be like, hey,
Speaker 1: what do you need? Like how can I help you
Speaker 1: get to know this place? Like this is how our
Speaker 1: bike share program works, Like just the most basic welcome
Speaker 1: get settled. Can we tell a little bit more about
Speaker 1: what the sort of legal process looks like here and
Speaker 1: what like, for example, like explained what check ins are
Speaker 1: and yeah, so um, the folks that are arriving are
Speaker 1: being parolled in UM and so basically what it means
Speaker 1: is that they are then under surveillance from the federal
Speaker 1: government UM from ICE, which is Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Speaker 1: And what that looks like is a little bit of
Speaker 1: a crapshoot. UM. So many many of the folks are
Speaker 1: UM at the border given cell phones UM that have
Speaker 1: tracking on them, and so with that cell phone, they're
Speaker 1: being tracked by the government. They basically have to take
Speaker 1: like selfies ever so often to UM check in and
Speaker 1: then they're basically being enrolled in this program called is APP,
Speaker 1: which is the I can't remember the acronym, it's it's
Speaker 1: UM a supervision program. And so they have to go
Speaker 1: to an ICE office once they arrive in whatever city
Speaker 1: that they're arriving to UM. Oftentimes they're being asked to
Speaker 1: turn in the ICE the ICE cell phones and having
Speaker 1: to download an app on their cell phones. If they
Speaker 1: don't have a cell phone, they might be given an
Speaker 1: ankle monitor or what many of the Spanish speakers called
Speaker 1: like a great They be basically like an ankle shackle
Speaker 1: UM for electronic monitoring. They'll have UM officers, you know,
Speaker 1: show up at their house, so sometimes they have to
Speaker 1: you know, be at home from seven am to seven
Speaker 1: pm so that you know, immigration come come by and
Speaker 1: make sure that they're like still there. And basically that
Speaker 1: part of the program is entirely so the government can
Speaker 1: keep a track of where these folks are. It has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with like the actual legal process that
Speaker 1: they are trying to go through to to be able
Speaker 1: to stay here permanently. So separate and apart from that,
Speaker 1: the vast majority of these folks are asylum seekers. And
Speaker 1: so what that means is that you know, once they're here,
Speaker 1: they have a year to apply for asylum and then
Speaker 1: they're thrust into the like totally broken asylum system that
Speaker 1: has you know, years long backlogs and things like that,
Speaker 1: and so then they'll be basically trying to find a
Speaker 1: way to um get an asylum grant to be able
Speaker 1: to stay here permanently while also navigating the surveillance that's
Speaker 1: happening on the ice side of things are so I know,
Speaker 1: something that happens with like I guess regular prison a
Speaker 1: lot are people being forced to pay for the ankle
Speaker 1: bracelets no thank god, okay, which is which is like
Speaker 1: something from their minimum but yeah, it's still Jesus. I mean,
Speaker 1: I will say that we've one of the issues that
Speaker 1: we have started, um sort of trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to navigate, is that what we're seeing is people,
Speaker 1: you know, they get the ICE cell phones at the border,
Speaker 1: and then at their check in they're supposed to turn
Speaker 1: in the ICE cell phones and then download this at
Speaker 1: this surveillance app on their phone. Um, many folks don't
Speaker 1: have a cell phone, or the app only works if
Speaker 1: you have I think a five G phone, So you
Speaker 1: basically have to have like the fanciest of the phones,
Speaker 1: which if you're an asylum secret and you just risk
Speaker 1: it all to come here to seek safety and you
Speaker 1: don't really have a support in the US, and now
Speaker 1: you're being told that you have to have this super
Speaker 1: fancy phone or you get an inkle shackle. It's it's
Speaker 1: just kind of a ridiculous thing knowing that it's okay,
Speaker 1: maybe you're privileged enough to be able to be surveilled
Speaker 1: on your own personal cell phone, or you just have
Speaker 1: to have an inkle shackle at all times. So much
Speaker 1: of this process just like it really feels just like
Speaker 1: it's it's just it's surveillance, just sort of for the
Speaker 1: purpose of humiliation. It's surveillance for the purpose of humiliation.
Speaker 1: It's surveillance for the sake of some Um. This idea
Speaker 1: that we've been dealing with in the US since September eleven,
Speaker 1: that uh, immigration is a national security concern that you know,
Speaker 1: if if immigrants aren't being surveilled twenty four hours a day,
Speaker 1: then like, lord knows what they could do. Um. When
Speaker 1: the reality is is these are folks that are just
Speaker 1: like normal people trying to live their best lives. UM.
Speaker 1: And I also think how I think it's really important
Speaker 1: to say how much of this is also entirely based
Speaker 1: on government funding and availability that so oftentimes the decision
Speaker 1: as to what kind of surveillance you're under is based
Speaker 1: upon what is available, um, based on contracts with you know,
Speaker 1: private surveillance companies and private prison companies that have a
Speaker 1: surveillance arm and things like that. It's it's entirely profit driven. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Again,
Speaker 1: I keep thinking about prisons, it's just like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean literally literally the same companies doing this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And how Yeah, and like I think, I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's there's this kind of like I mean, I guess, people,
Speaker 1: it's just a prison industrial complex. But yeah, there's this
Speaker 1: whole there's a sort of like state private sector complex
Speaker 1: that both feed on each other, where you have these
Speaker 1: companies taking federal money to do stuff. You have these
Speaker 1: companies who are like have figured out ways to extract
Speaker 1: like money from the people that are surevailing. And I guess, okay,
Speaker 1: keep keeping on the thread of the state making people's
Speaker 1: lives miserable. Um, yeah, so Muriel Bowser not doing anything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're talking about that a bit. So Mariel Bowser's messaging
Speaker 1: that we have received has evolved a little bit here
Speaker 1: and there. So sometimes she says that the majority of
Speaker 1: people that are getting off the bus have everything they
Speaker 1: need and have family supporting them, and so there actually
Speaker 1: is no reason for the government to step forward because
Speaker 1: these people already have all of their needs met, which
Speaker 1: I would say maybe one person or one family every
Speaker 1: every few days has someone that's you know, ready to
Speaker 1: meet them when they step off the bus, but the
Speaker 1: vast majority of people don't. And I would say that
Speaker 1: we're seeing an ever increasing amount of people that don't
Speaker 1: have anybody in the United States, and so they really
Speaker 1: are in need of a lot of supports to help
Speaker 1: them really figure out their way here because they don't
Speaker 1: have cousins or family friends or extended family, whatever it
Speaker 1: may be, to help them, you know, put down roots
Speaker 1: in the in their new communities. UM. And in recent
Speaker 1: weeks her messaging has shifted a little bit because there
Speaker 1: is actually a Spain based organization that got a grant
Speaker 1: from FEMA to support on the buses. UM And so
Speaker 1: now Bowser's response is this organization, SAMU has it, It's covered.
Speaker 1: There's there's no like refuse one refusing to even acknowledge
Speaker 1: the fact that the Mutual Aid Network has been and
Speaker 1: continues to do the vast majority of the welcoming of
Speaker 1: the folks that are arriving. And two once again refusing
Speaker 1: to acknowledge that there is any role that DC could
Speaker 1: be or should be playing here. Yeah, and it definite.
Speaker 1: It seems like I don't know. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: a kind of classic like State two steps, which was
Speaker 1: like yeah, on the one hand, it's like, okay, there's
Speaker 1: no problem. The second thing is we found an NGO
Speaker 1: we can sort of like pretend is doing the actual work.
Speaker 1: UM And I guess one of your things that that
Speaker 1: I saw from y'all recently was a bunch of people
Speaker 1: got exposed to COVID while doing this and there was like, basically,
Speaker 1: you guys did basically a work stoppage. So last week, UM,
Speaker 1: we basically hit a ball. UM. Many of our core
Speaker 1: organizers had been exposed to COVID. UM, we were running
Speaker 1: out of funds because this work is expensive, UM, and
Speaker 1: we had been doing this as volunteers around the clock,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty four hours a day, sevent days a
Speaker 1: week for months, and last week we kind of hit
Speaker 1: a wall. And UM told this NGO that is receiving
Speaker 1: female funding that UM, we needed to take a beat,
Speaker 1: UM and take two days where you know, folks kid
Speaker 1: get COVID tested and make sure they were in the
Speaker 1: clear to come back to work and rest and also
Speaker 1: spend time like we you know, call it a work stoppage.
Speaker 1: But we were all too working. We were all you know,
Speaker 1: having conversations as to how we make this work more sustainable,
Speaker 1: how we find you know, systems of support to to
Speaker 1: make this this welcome last And unfortunately that resulted in
Speaker 1: people basically getting stranded at Union station. UM. And when
Speaker 1: our folks were able to return to welcoming buses on um.
Speaker 1: You know. Later in the week they ended up with
Speaker 1: like I don't know, thirty additional people that had basically
Speaker 1: been sleeping at Union Station because this other NGO that
Speaker 1: you know is receiving federal funding to do the work
Speaker 1: that the mayor is saying has it and therefore she
Speaker 1: doesn't have to do anything didn't show up and and
Speaker 1: there were a handful of good Samaritans that like you know,
Speaker 1: would be at Union Station and see a bunch of
Speaker 1: folks and they you know, spoke different languages and would
Speaker 1: be able to support them kind of here and there.
Speaker 1: But it really showed how um. I think it really
Speaker 1: proved the work that the futual Aid Network had been
Speaker 1: holding and that you know, if we tried to take
Speaker 1: a step back, things things fall um and really showed
Speaker 1: how much we need others to step in because the
Speaker 1: work that we've been holding has is has been you know,
Speaker 1: wearing us down and hiding the situation a little bit
Speaker 1: right that people don't people, you know, when we're able
Speaker 1: to really show up and and provide the folks that
Speaker 1: are arriving with the support that they need. What it
Speaker 1: means is that the government isn't paying attention because it's
Speaker 1: it's not their problem. In that moment um, it means
Speaker 1: that DC residents don't have to walk by asylum seekers
Speaker 1: when they're trying to get to the metro after work.
Speaker 1: It means that, um, you know, the people are cared
Speaker 1: for and and that's great, and it's work that we're
Speaker 1: proud of it. It's work that we're doing well. Um,
Speaker 1: But it's also work that we need support doing, um
Speaker 1: because it's it's a lot and the numbers have increased,
Speaker 1: you know, and and we want to be able to
Speaker 1: provide welcome. We want to be able to give the
Speaker 1: folks what they need. But as long as we're sort
Speaker 1: of living in this world where bus tickets are massively
Speaker 1: expensive and food is expensive and you know, we gotta
Speaker 1: we gotta help clothes people and and help people meet
Speaker 1: their needs, then then we have to have support. And
Speaker 1: that's just that's just the reality. Yeah, That's one of
Speaker 1: the things that is really frustrating about this too, is
Speaker 1: it's like it's not like the resources that you just
Speaker 1: don't exist, Like it's not it's not even like the
Speaker 1: state hasn't like attempted to put resources out, but it
Speaker 1: just got fed into this NGO complex people who are
Speaker 1: just doing nothing. And I don't know, like the the
Speaker 1: the way you get to see sort of both arms
Speaker 1: of what the state does, or it's like, okay, on
Speaker 1: the one hand, you have the part of the state
Speaker 1: that's just hitting people with clubs, that's just doing this stuff,
Speaker 1: and you get the sort of political army of the
Speaker 1: state who just like again, are just literally shuffling people's
Speaker 1: lives around as as you know, as political theater, and
Speaker 1: the political theory doesn't matter because these people's lives don't
Speaker 1: matter to the state or to anyone who has even
Speaker 1: a tiny bit of power unless you know they're it's
Speaker 1: visible enough that people are like the people have to
Speaker 1: see it, and that people, you know, get annoyed because oh, hey,
Speaker 1: look at this thing happening. That's like interfering with my
Speaker 1: life now, and you know, and then it's like, oh, hey,
Speaker 1: they're supposed to be part of the state that like
Speaker 1: tastes care of people just isn't and that's just incredibly frustrating.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's I think of a few things.
Speaker 1: So when we first started seeing buses coming to d
Speaker 1: c Um, you know that people are dropped off in
Speaker 1: front of Union Station and at the time, there was
Speaker 1: an encampment of an housed people um that you know,
Speaker 1: had their tents and stuff in front of Union Station.
Speaker 1: And so folks would get off the bus and say,
Speaker 1: you know what are the tents? Like who are these
Speaker 1: people living in tents? And so be like, welcome, welcome
Speaker 1: to the nation's capital of this place that you just
Speaker 1: came to seek opportunity, to seek safety. And you're immediately
Speaker 1: showing getting showed in in the most you know, visible
Speaker 1: terms possible of a way that the state is failing
Speaker 1: its own people because people in d C don't have
Speaker 1: housing um, and housing here is immensely expensive. And then um,
Speaker 1: I say in the early days because uh in I
Speaker 1: think it was in May uh that encampment was cleared
Speaker 1: um and so those people lost their homes um. And
Speaker 1: now it continues to be a struggle that you know,
Speaker 1: if we are unable to provide housing for the people
Speaker 1: that get off the bus, they are going into the
Speaker 1: DC shelter system that is already overrun because there is
Speaker 1: a housing crisis and DC and aluming eviction crisis, and
Speaker 1: even for the folks that are arriving here, on the buses.
Speaker 1: If they don't have support, they're they're thrust into this
Speaker 1: situation in which the state is preventing them from working.
Speaker 1: They don't have a way to work legally for at
Speaker 1: least a few months, um, presumably until you know, they
Speaker 1: can apply for a work permit, presumably after they file
Speaker 1: for asylum. But these are folks that don't have a
Speaker 1: way to work legally, that are have that have zero
Speaker 1: support from the state. So how like, tell me how
Speaker 1: somebody is supposed to live in the United States, feed themselves,
Speaker 1: feed them their feed their families, um, have a roof
Speaker 1: over their head, survive, have a cell phone for your
Speaker 1: surveillance app have the means to travel an hour, you know,
Speaker 1: once every few weeks to check in with ICE. If
Speaker 1: they're legally prevented from working. It's just it's a total
Speaker 1: abandonment of people who need and wholeheartedly deserve support. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think like it's it's honestly, like honestly think
Speaker 1: it's it's worse than abandoned, right Like if they just like,
Speaker 1: if these people were allowed to come into the US
Speaker 1: and the state did literally nothing at all, it would
Speaker 1: be better in the situation that exists now, Like it's
Speaker 1: not even just that they're being abandoned, is that they're
Speaker 1: actively being prevented from like doing the things they need
Speaker 1: to live. And it's I don't know, I think this
Speaker 1: is something you see on a sort of broader level, right,
Speaker 1: whether there's a lot of I don't know, Back when
Speaker 1: I was in sort of social theory land, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of talk about like necropolitics and the state letting
Speaker 1: people die, and it's like, well, yeah, but like they're
Speaker 1: also actively helping to kill them too, like that that's
Speaker 1: like it's not just that the state abandoned people. It's
Speaker 1: that the state abandoned people and then it it takes
Speaker 1: the resources and prevents anyone else from using them, and
Speaker 1: then you know, and when it when it does sort
Speaker 1: of yeah, I mean going back to sort of this
Speaker 1: NHO that's not doing anything, it's like, yeah, when it
Speaker 1: when it does sort of send these resources out, it's
Speaker 1: sending them into these like into its own sort of
Speaker 1: Paris state complex with the sort of geo sector that's
Speaker 1: just not doing anything, And it's just I don't know,
Speaker 1: like it's it's this bind, right, because it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like on the one hand, like communities have to be
Speaker 1: able to support each other, but it's like we don't
Speaker 1: have the resources for it, and that has to come
Speaker 1: from somewhere, right, Yeah, it's impossible, and it's it's heartbreaking
Speaker 1: to see when DC is barely doing anything for the
Speaker 1: people that have been living here for generations, and then
Speaker 1: when we have new folks arrive, they're thrust into this
Speaker 1: impossible situation and no one's really willing to engage with
Speaker 1: that problem. Um, and there are resources, it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of whether you want to use them for these purposes.
Speaker 1: And this is a problem that we're seeing intimately here
Speaker 1: in d C, but it's a problem that's existing everywhere
Speaker 1: around the country. And DC is supposed to be a
Speaker 1: sanctuary city, Like this isn't This isn't d C with
Speaker 1: a mayor that's, you know, politically aligned with Governor Abbott.
Speaker 1: This isn't a d C with a mayor who is
Speaker 1: attempting to be vehemently anti immigrant. It's a mayor who
Speaker 1: is claiming to represent a sanctuary city, a city that
Speaker 1: is supposed to welcome immigrants, and yet m saying welcome
Speaker 1: doesn't actually mean welcome. Yeah, I remember, like I'm in Chicago,
Speaker 1: and you know Chicago's also sanctuary city and I I
Speaker 1: you know, we had to physically stop deportation flights with
Speaker 1: our bodies. Like what the this like haunting memory always
Speaker 1: remembers like the first big like anti ice like anti
Speaker 1: quids in cages protests that we had one of the
Speaker 1: groups that showed up to this thing like what it's
Speaker 1: called Heartland Alliance and then you know they describe itself
Speaker 1: as like this human rights, an anti poverty organization and
Speaker 1: they were literally running five child attention centers in Chicago
Speaker 1: and it was like, I don't know, the doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that that was like this the sort of like the
Speaker 1: it's it's it's the rubber hitting the road of saying
Speaker 1: you're a sanctuary city and what does it look like.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, it means that your microjestice organizations like
Speaker 1: run child prisons for immigrants. It's a refusal to engage
Speaker 1: with reality a little bit. And you know the NGO
Speaker 1: SAMO that is receiving female funding to presumably abandoned people.
Speaker 1: Union Station is also you know, if things go their way,
Speaker 1: trying to open up a facility and DC too, you know,
Speaker 1: detain an accompanied children and that's welcome to things. Racity,
Speaker 1: it's probably worth meshtioning. It's like, you know, Spain another
Speaker 1: country that has just like people getting like people. So
Speaker 1: Spain like has a part of North Africa they control,
Speaker 1: and you know they're like people like people get shot
Speaker 1: at the border by soldiers trying to like trying to
Speaker 1: climb fences getting in, and you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: this fun thing where we're seeing like, I mean, this
Speaker 1: is this what's been happening for the last I mean
Speaker 1: really like forever, like least five hundred years has been this.
Speaker 1: But this the sort of this, this incredible racist border
Speaker 1: system is not just an American thing. It's in Europe,
Speaker 1: it's in it's been exported like into Mexico itself. It's
Speaker 1: been I don't know, it's it's it's it's it's it's
Speaker 1: a politics that's just sort of everywhere and like frontexs
Speaker 1: and THEU does this stuff like it's it's all just
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's borders are racist and they kill
Speaker 1: people and they kill people and it feels I don't
Speaker 1: actually think we have to go to it's it's I
Speaker 1: think it's helpful to make those analogies of how this
Speaker 1: is replicated across the world. But I also think that
Speaker 1: you know, just a few weeks ago, there were over
Speaker 1: fifty uh migrants that were found dead in the backup
Speaker 1: attractor trailer in San Antonio, including you know, young indigenous folks.
Speaker 1: And we know that there have been thousands of thousands
Speaker 1: of Haitians removed under Title forty two um and Haitians
Speaker 1: that are drowning in the water trying to find a
Speaker 1: way to come to the United States to seek safety.
Speaker 1: People are literally dying trying to get here. And what
Speaker 1: the folks that are coming to d C in a
Speaker 1: way are the lucky ones because they're from countries like Venezuela.
Speaker 1: They're from countries like Cuba where U. S Foreign policy
Speaker 1: finds it beneficial to allow them to enter. Two publicly say,
Speaker 1: you know, these are the quote unquote right asylum seekers
Speaker 1: and they're able to be paroled into the country and
Speaker 1: still have to deal with all of this crap that
Speaker 1: they're dealing with. But there's countless other black, brown, indigenous
Speaker 1: folks that are arriving at the border and literally risking
Speaker 1: their lives and many losing their lives trying to get
Speaker 1: here because of these like racialized border systems that we
Speaker 1: have and that we're exporting all throughout the America's like
Speaker 1: go south to Mexico to Tapatula and you basically have
Speaker 1: an open air prison of black asylum seekers. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean this is something that like like my my the
Speaker 1: reason my family's here is because we were able to
Speaker 1: like my grandpa got drafted into the Taiwanese army and
Speaker 1: he was like no, and because we were Taiwanese, we
Speaker 1: were able to get to the US. But it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, lots and lots of people like you know,
Speaker 1: if you if you were from South Vietnam, sometime to
Speaker 1: let you and if they if you were from Taiwan,
Speaker 1: they will let you in. But like God help you
Speaker 1: if you're from like Indonesia or just like from I mean,
Speaker 1: so sometimes you get people from China. But it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the I don't know the way that just all of
Speaker 1: these people's lives are being used at geopolitical tools. They're
Speaker 1: being used and then you know, once they get here,
Speaker 1: they're being used as just sort of internal American political tools.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's just as a lot of people getting
Speaker 1: killed with the borders and until we fucking make borders
Speaker 1: go away. Like the stuff is just going to keep happening,
Speaker 1: and people are getting boarded onto buses and sent to
Speaker 1: d C because Governor Abbott thinks this is the way
Speaker 1: that he can run for president by being the most racist,
Speaker 1: xenophobic guy in town. Maybe maybe, and and these folks
Speaker 1: are just political tools, and um, it's it's devastating, um,
Speaker 1: and it's it's really also kind of amazing to be
Speaker 1: able to then also just like hang out with them
Speaker 1: and break bread with them and and realize that we're
Speaker 1: all sort of fighting this this mess together. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think I don't know, like we we do. We
Speaker 1: do a lot of episodes here that are incredibly depressing,
Speaker 1: But yeah, like I guess, yeah, it isn't I guess
Speaker 1: important as a as a thing to sort of end on,
Speaker 1: is it? Like yeah, I know, like we like we
Speaker 1: can take care of these people, like we can if
Speaker 1: we actually fight this together, we can beat these guys,
Speaker 1: like we I don't know, like it is actually possible,
Speaker 1: like these these all of the things that we're talking about,
Speaker 1: Like the stuff didn't used to exist. It's not it's
Speaker 1: not something that inherently has to exist. And we can
Speaker 1: make it not exist again. I think the the response
Speaker 1: that we've had in DC has been are really like,
Speaker 1: I can't say it enough how beautiful it is that
Speaker 1: we have a group of like over two volunteers that
Speaker 1: have stepped up, UM and we've been able to raise
Speaker 1: a remarkable amount of money. And we've had like, you know,
Speaker 1: little kids sell cookies to support our efforts and UM,
Speaker 1: it's it's really heartwarming, UM and people using their neighborhood
Speaker 1: listeners to you know, get donations of car seats to
Speaker 1: be able to you know, make sure that when we're
Speaker 1: you know, helping families, we can make sure that like
Speaker 1: the little kiddos are able to travel in car seats
Speaker 1: safely and all of that. And we've been able to
Speaker 1: and we're doing more of this of like building relationships
Speaker 1: with folks around the country that are doing similar work.
Speaker 1: Or you know, if someone is taking a bus to
Speaker 1: New York and it you know breaks down in Philly,
Speaker 1: we're able to mobilize other volunteers and Philly to just
Speaker 1: like make sure that folks are like fine and okay
Speaker 1: and like get on their next bus. And that is
Speaker 1: amazing and beautiful and to me, I think the thing
Speaker 1: that makes me optimistic and like mad at the same
Speaker 1: time is that there are both at the federal level
Speaker 1: and local levels, just billions and billions and billions of
Speaker 1: dollars that are being invested into into solutions that are
Speaker 1: based on like detention, surveillance, border militarization. When God like,
Speaker 1: if instead we just devoted those billions, billions and billions
Speaker 1: of dollars into making sure that like when folks arrive
Speaker 1: here they can have like a comfy bed to to
Speaker 1: to like lay in at night and have food and
Speaker 1: be able to like support their families. I mean, it
Speaker 1: kind of sounds revolutionary, but but it's just like it's
Speaker 1: so simple, um, and there is such a concerted effort
Speaker 1: to do the opposite of the most basic Hey, welcome
Speaker 1: to my town. How can I welcome you? There was
Speaker 1: if I remembering my like immigration history right there, they
Speaker 1: used they had this program in the UK where for
Speaker 1: a while where they would bring, okay you, you'd have
Speaker 1: a family they're coming to the US and they get
Speaker 1: paired with their British family, and the British family would
Speaker 1: like show them the ropes and it worked really well.
Speaker 1: Everyone loved it and they stopped doing it because they
Speaker 1: once they brought people in like that, they couldn't deport
Speaker 1: them because the entire community would show up and just
Speaker 1: be like no, And so they up doing it. And
Speaker 1: it's like that's a problem, Like that's the problem that
Speaker 1: like people are then welcomed and loved by their communities,
Speaker 1: Like that shouldn't be a problem that we have to solve.
Speaker 1: That should be like, oh, this is a resounding success. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And instead it's like it's like actually living in a
Speaker 1: better world, actually having a community where people care for
Speaker 1: each other and where people take care of each other
Speaker 1: and where people love each other or people will fight
Speaker 1: for each other, like that is something that the state
Speaker 1: sees as a threat. And I don't know, I guess
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's this, it's this weird thing where
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, we like the better world we
Speaker 1: could be living in, like is is literally being built
Speaker 1: right Like you know, you can, you can you can
Speaker 1: walk down the street and you can see people taking
Speaker 1: care of each other. And then it's like here is
Speaker 1: the state, who's the only thing that they want to
Speaker 1: do is just make everyone's lives increasingly miserable. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: like is it? Is it? That's hard to just say. Hey, Like,
Speaker 1: folks want to be able to just like live. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's all they want to be able to do is
Speaker 1: just like live. They want to be able to work,
Speaker 1: they want to be able to support their family, they
Speaker 1: want to be able to be safe, they want to
Speaker 1: be able to like eat good food and have fun.
Speaker 1: And the state is doing everything but allowing that to
Speaker 1: be and are like mutual aid work is helping folks
Speaker 1: navigate and do as much of that as possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that's a good note to end on,
Speaker 1: unless you have anything else, I don't think so cool.
Speaker 1: Um okay, so where where can people go to find
Speaker 1: and support this work? And where can they go to
Speaker 1: like give money if they want to or actually help
Speaker 1: volunteer too if you're in the area. Yeah, so, um,
Speaker 1: we have a link tree that has all of the
Speaker 1: links to support us in all the ways. So if
Speaker 1: you're here in d C and you want to be
Speaker 1: able to support or if you want to donate, Um,
Speaker 1: we have really cool t shirts that we sell that
Speaker 1: say melt Ice that are designed by one of our volunteers. Um.
Speaker 1: And so it's the link tree is uh like the
Speaker 1: link tree h slash d C t X Solidarity twenty
Speaker 1: two and if you follow that link, you will be
Speaker 1: able to um see all about our work. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: get the demands that we have for Mayor Bowser, support
Speaker 1: us in person, financially, whatever it is. All of that
Speaker 1: lives there. And yeah, we will. We will put the
Speaker 1: link in the description. So cool, that'd be great. I'll
Speaker 1: make sure you have it. Yeah, thank you, um and yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you so much for joining us, thank
Speaker 1: you for having me. Yeah, and this is be nicked
Speaker 1: app here. Go help your neighbors and go make the
Speaker 1: state not be able to prevent you from doing that.
Speaker 1: It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Speaker 1: cool zone media dot com, or check us out on
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It could
Speaker 1: Happen here, updated monthly at cool zone Media dot com
Speaker 1: slash sources. Thanks for listening.