WEBVTT - Border Solidarity Roundtable 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.080 Hey everyone, it's me James, and just before you hear 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.280 the episode, i'd want to warn you that you can 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:09.840 hear our telephones going absolutely mental for much of this episode. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.039 That's because as we were recording, people have found out 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.920 that SDG and E San Diego Gas Electric were restricting 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.520 access to one of the sites where migrants were. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:20.800 In need of aid. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.600 People were very concerned about that, so they were reaching 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:28.160 out to James and Jacqueline and Pedro to ask for 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:29.800 assistance and to me to let me know if I 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.760 could get the word out. That's why you can hear 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.760 our phones going crazy, and I think it's good that 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.000 it's in there in a sense because perhaps you can 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.360 get a sense of how mad the last few weeks 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:45.479 have been for everyone. Our phones have constantly be going off. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:47.639 I'm sure mine a lot less than James and Jacquelines 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.879 and Pedros because people are overwhelmed and they need more 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.400 help than we were able to give. So consider that 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.120 background noise a blessing and I hope you enjoyed the episode. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:56.639 Thanks. 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.839 Hi everyone, it's me James today and I hear again 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.399 to talk about the border today. I'm joined by some guests. 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.280 I'm joined by James and Jacqueline from Border Kindness, who 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.639 we've heard from before, and I'm also joined by Pedro 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.319 Rias from the American French Service Committee. If you guys 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.120 would like to introduce yourself and explain the kind of 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.800 role you play along the border, that'd be wonderful if 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.080 we start with Pedro, because folks haven't heard from him before, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:24.720 that would be great. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:25.840 Great. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.399 Thank you James, and it's such an honor to be 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.759 on the show together with folks from Border Kindness, James 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.920 and Jacqueline. It's great to see you again. My name 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.080 is Pedro Rios. I'm director of the American Friend Service 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.479 Committee's US Mexico Border Program, which is a Quaker based 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.400 human rights organization. I've been on staff now for twenty 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.440 years working in San Diego on border issues and it's 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.960 been a whorldwind of two decades of work being able 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:57.760 to follow this topic. Our work primarily focuses on border 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:02.400 issues and we have four components, one of which is 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:06.600 documenting civil and human rights abuses that occur when contact 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:13.959 goes awry between primary federal immigration authorities with members of 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:20.040 civil society, including migrants and order community residents. Documentation could 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:27.760 be case evolving abuse of practices, abuse of policies, cases 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.200 evolving abuse of authority, and so on and so forth. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.560 We also do a lot of policy analysis and advocacy 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.600 at the local level, at the state level, and at 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:42.880 the federal level, trying to hold agencies accountable, making them 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:47.760 more transparent, ensuring that there are oversight mechanisms and how 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:53.600 they operate. And that's done in conjunction with several coalitions 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.880 at the county wide level in San Diego, but also 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.359 at the national level with the Southern Border Communities Coalition 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:08.280 and other organizations as well. And then we obviously work 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.440 in allyship with a lot of other organizations that have 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.880 campaigns of mutual interest, some of which have been going 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:17.560 on for a long time, such as the Friends of 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.160 Friendship Park and trying to gain access public access to 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.480 Friendship Park, which currently is being impacted by the construction 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:32.840 of two thirty foot border walls. And we also work 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.960 directly with community members and providing information about what the 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.320 rights are, how they can become and our leaders in 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:42.560 their own communities, and how they can be active in 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:49.119 straightening their communities and providing guidance to other people who 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.280 might be in the same circumstances. So in a nutshell, 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:53.240 that's the work that we do. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:54.920 Yeah, great, it's very important work. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.200 And then James and Jacqueline, do you want to explain 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:59.640 Folks are familiar I think with border kindness from the 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.720 pre this episode, but like, maybe what have you been 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.160 doing in the last I can't remember two weeks like 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.560 since people started being held out in the open again. 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.560 So in our organizations kind of always evolving with like 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.800 the evolving needs of the border, and over the last 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.279 I want to say, like years in particular, we've really 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.560 started to emphasize our services being present in the rural border. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.920 We're based in Mahikali, primarily, our water drops are generally 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:35.640 in the Imperial Valley region, and we started to extend 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:40.799 our services to the rural community in San Diego County 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.000 with regards to like day labor, providing aid to micro 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.719 community that's living in rural communities. So all that to say, 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:52.680 when the border appeared to be having one of its 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:57.400 episodes of chaos, what's happened in the last couple of 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:03.360 weeks with folk being detained between the walls down in 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:08.359 sanny Siedrol and then folks being you know, just dumped 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.280 out into the street at the transit centers if we've 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:14.159 been seeing all over Sandygo County. We sort of held 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.440 off because we knew this was going to happen in Hakuma. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.320 This is kind of one of those sixth sense kind 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:22.039 of things, like when you see the writing on the 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.599 wall and it was like only a matter of time 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:29.239 before people ended up pushed into rural San Diego County, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.600 and unfortunately that has been the case. So we were 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.720 actually out in the desert doing a water drop and 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:41.360 heard that that impact had occurred and there were hundreds 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.640 of people in Hakkumba. So we've been out there providing 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:45.440 aid ever since. 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.720 Yeah, so perhaps we could describe these. So there are 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.080 like three things I think people would benefit from knowing about. 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.000 One is the detention of people between the walls in 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.279 sanny Cedral, which I think Pedro has seen a lot 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.400 of I've seen and we've seen each other down there 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.680 several days. The detention of folks in the open desert 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.640 in Hakumba, and this this dumping of migrant to various 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.080 transit centers across the county. Those are the three things 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.520 a week we've seen, like in massive numbers. 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:15.359 This last couple of. 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.240 Weeks, so preps, we could start with explaining her Cumba 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.440 and then Pedro can take on explaining the other two 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.080 because I know he's been responding to those. So can 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:25.880 you just tell us, like what you saw, the number 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.200 of people, the conditions in which they're being held, and 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:30.760 that kind of stuff. 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:38.600 Yeah. Usually, well we're seeing now. I mean now it's 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:40.400 currently what today? What isday? 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.839 Wednesday? So I know it is. 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.520 Yeah, yeah, well this morning I asked Jacke on what 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.000 day it was, because it just seems like a broken blur, 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:53.279 you know, the day out. But we are on Wednesday night. 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:58.040 That's Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Every day so far we 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:08.120 have noticed a revolving door of roughly two and fifty 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:15.000 spread out between one to three camps every day. There's 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:19.520 a camp on the east side in Hokomba, There's a 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.800 camp that's on the west side of Hokkumba, and then 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.640 there's a camp that's just outside Hokomba and Boulevard that 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.880 seems to be the biggest camp right now. That camp 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:33.560 is the largest one because it's kind of hidden. You 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.840 got to drive down from the main highway. You have 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.400 to drive, you know, at least fifteen minutes you know, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.120 down some dirt roads, back roads, you know, past ranches 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.760 and stuff like that to get to that open air camp, 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.200 where the other ones, especially like we saw in May, 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:55.120 were more like wide open, closer to the towns, closer 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.160 to visibility, closer to highway access. And so what we've 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.800 noticed is that that speaking with the locals and seeing 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.000 for ourselves that every day the camps that are more 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:11.600 visible are having less people coming in and they're being 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:16.800 taken out faster. And so that part, I think is, 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.160 you know, could be done for a multitude of reasons. 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.320 But the camp that's hidden and out of you is 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:28.760 the one that seems kind of strategic and seems calculated 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:33.320 on a greater level that as people are being loaded 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:37.000 up on vans or buses to be taken out for processing, 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.240 almost the same amount of people gets walked in to 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:44.080 that camp from the actual border by border patrol. So 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:48.320 it it's definitely an odd situation that's going on there. 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:53.720 It seems definitely calculated orchestrated and something that you know, 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.640 we feel that will be going on for quite a while. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.559 Yeah, let's let me talk about that, right, Like people 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.240 are crossing and then being being transported, like you say, 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.199 on foot by Border Patrol to the camp. That's your understanding, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.439 right to that camp in in near Boulevard. 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.160 I'll say, I don't want to give the exact. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.400 Location, correct, Yes, So we witnessed that as well. We 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:20.560 witnessed on Monday night that we were there to help 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.200 distribute food and warm supplies, and I think a total 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:30.040 of five or six Border Patrol vans had, you know, 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.120 about one hundred people or so lined up and loaded 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.560 up onto those vans. And then right as they were 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:42.200 getting ready to have the last two vans leave, we 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.400 saw in the distance, in the opposite direction, Order Patrol 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:50.160 their truck driving behind a group of roughly eighty eighty 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:55.760 five new migrants coming in on foot. Yeah, right around 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:57.920 there's a gap in the fence. 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.480 Yeah, I saw people walking in. I was there the 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.240 day before you guys, So I was early as I 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.000 was the early Monday morning, and I saw the same thing, 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.600 like you know, sort of just after dawn. I couldn't 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.079 make out who was walking home just because it was dark. 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.200 Can you explain briefly, and then then we'll move to 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.760 to Pedro's situation. Can you explain the services that are 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.200 provided for them by Border Patrol, and then what is 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.120 provided for them by volunteers. 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:29.079 By Border Patrol. It's essentially nothing. When this occurred in May, 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.360 we heard that most people were receiving an eight ounce 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:38.360 bottle of water daily, not really distributed in an organized manner. Currently, 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:43.120 we're observing that people are when they arrive, they're at 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.400 times provided with a sixteen ounce bottle of water and 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:52.839 potentially a little proddler sized pack of goldfish crackers. Border 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:59.359 Patrol is not providing any other continued services food, shelter, sanitation, 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:04.280 anything like that. Those things have all been organized at 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.480 a community level by a variety of organizations such as 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:12.440 ours that's comprised of just regular people. So it's the 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:20.520 government's task of managing a humanitarian crisis. 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:21.200 They have. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:27.400 Like really outsourced it to the general community of supporters. 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.199 So they have taken not just the role of not 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.640 having any responsibility towards caring for migrants in like the 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.320 most basic manner, but it also seems like they have 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:44.240 come to expect the general community to come in and 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.000 fill the gaps that they're not meeting. So Border Patrol 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.640 is not providing them with anything. It's everyday regular people 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:55.480 that are showing up with blankets, food, water, hygiene items. 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:01.600 It's getting really cold, so people are distributing warm clothing, diapers, formula, 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.240 anything that people need is being provided by the community. 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:06.400 Yeah. 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.400 Yeah, that's a good summary, I think. So, Pedrick, could 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.320 you explain how the how the situation is in sanny 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:16.560 Edra and then also at the transit centers and it's 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.360 a pretty similar situation, I think. 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.959 Yeah, sure, I'll start with Sunny zero and the location 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.200 where community members and organizations have set up is known 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.840 as Whiskey eight. There are at least three other locations 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.160 that we know where encampments have formed. One is Whisky four, 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.280 which is close to the Las America Shopping Mall. It's 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:39.200 an outlet mall closer to the port of entry, and 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:43.480 then about a mile west of Whiskey eight there's Spooners Mesa, 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.160 and then close to that there's ninety one X. The 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:52.439 Spooners Mesa is primarily where the men's encampment is has 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:56.240 been arranged, and this happened back in May. There is 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:01.079 an incident where Border patrol decided to to move all 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:05.440 the single adult men and walk them marched them essentially 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.360 about a mile up a hill and then up another 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:14.959 hill to get to Spooner's Mesa. After some advocacy last week, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.840 we convinced super Patrol to allow two of us to 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.960 go up there to feed about anywhere between three hundred 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.240 and eighty and four hundred men. And it took us 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:28.160 over an hour, about an hour fifteen minutes to feed 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.200 all of the men. Fortunately, we just barely had enough 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.240 food for all of them. This was in the evening 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.960 and as we were driving in and driving out, all 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:43.440 we could see was milar blankets strown about, and that's 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:45.120 all that was up there. And these were the men 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:49.760 that were these milar blankets down in Whiskey eight. How 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.559 community members and organizations have arranged the solidarity support stations 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:59.960 have been in four set So you have the charging state, 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.679 you have the medical supplies and other item station, then 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.200 you have the food station and then the water station. 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.840 And so we try to maintain the medical supplies. The 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.640 food station is available only when we have enough food 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.800 to provide substance to everyone there. We don't want to 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.240 create a situation where we only serve half of the 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.560 people or a quarter of the people. And then the 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.880 other people go hungry, and mind you, it's important to 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.840 point out that when people arrive there, they are hungry, 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:32.000 they are thirsty. Some of them have scrapes because they 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:37.680 scale the primary border barrier and injure themselves. Others are 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.200 wet because they walked through the canal to get to 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:44.720 that location. I've also witnessed on several locations where a 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.920 border patrol will tell people who are injured to walk 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:51.520 towards our location because they tell them that that's where 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.840 we will provide them with medical care. Now, I think 0:14:54.840 --> 0:15:01.080 it's important to mention that under customers in a border 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.880 protection which is a parent agency of the Border Patrol, 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.720 under their national standards for how they are supposed to transport, escort, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:13.440 detain and search people under their custody, they are obligated 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:18.240 to feed, to provide water, to provide shelter, to treat 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:24.560 medical urgencies. Anytime that individuals are under their custody. There 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.440 is some back and forth. Orbitral locally will say that 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.480 individuals are not under their custody until they are being transported, 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.080 even though they will provide them with a wristband or 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.720 bracelet in some cases tell them to remove their shoelaces, 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.480 direct them to where they should be walking, yell at 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.320 them when they're not forming in lines in order to 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.560 be picked up, sometimes throw a fit and will not 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.720 pick people up even though they're supposed to be there 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.320 to do that because people are not in lines as 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.920 quickly as it should be. All of this to several 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.840 of our organizations in the cake that border patrol at 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:08.680 some to some degree has people under their custody and 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:14.400 as such is violating the these national standards because it's 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:19.440 not meeting their needs at any level. Besides maybe the 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.120 bottle of water might provide and the one or two 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:25.320 granola bars they provide per day. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.640 If even that, Yeah, I think it's the national border patrol. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.840 Pio also claimed to me that they were not detaining 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.440 people and that people were free to quote return to Mexico, 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.160 which like these people, I'm from Mexico and in many 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.800 cases and like I think the first day, maybe I 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.120 saw you speaking to one family who come from Mexico, 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.800 but the vast guority of people weren't, and there'd also 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.040 be entering Mexico between ports of entry because they're in 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.920 the United States at this time. So yeah, it's just 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.480 not that those people are like, there's there's lots of 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:00.960 evidence that they're being detained, even if they say they're not. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:17.280 What then happens to those people? We've all seen it, right. 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.720 These vans pull up. They generally process people in a 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:25.040 certain order, which is to take unaccomplited miners and women 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.120 who are alone with children, and then families and then 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.159 single adults. What happens to them once they get on 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.879 that van? Do we have a clear sense of that 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:34.880 where they end up. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.320 They will be taken to any one of several borbaitral 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:45.960 stations for processing. And it's that processing stage where most 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.600 of them who are in these locations are there because 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.760 they want to present themselves to the authority and begin 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.280 an asilum claim, and so it's how they answer the 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.640 questions while being processed that they get tracked, mostly for asylum. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.840 There are some that will be quickly removed from the 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:10.120 country expeditiously, but most of them will be tracked for asylum. 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.159 They will be given a court date when they should 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.600 show up, and that court date the court location depends 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:23.320 on where their final destination will be. Technically, Mexicans can 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.960 only be detained for forty eight hours non Mexicans can 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.720 only be detained no more than seventy two hours, So 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.919 within that detention period, they then are being transported to 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.600 one of four locations in San Diego County, two of 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.560 which are in San Diego, the Santy Zero Transit Center, 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:45.040 in the IRIS Transit Center, one in Oceanside, and the 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.240 other in Alcohol. And so we're seeing the majority of 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.600 the people being transported to saniny Ero and to IRIS, 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:57.320 and that's where colleagues with other sister organizations are leading 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.440 the charge to try to support them with seeing in 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.520 charging phones, providing food, clothing, getting them to the airport, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.440 getting them transportation, getting them housing, and as much as 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.119 limited as that's possible, trying to connect them with lost 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:16.399 family members. Because families have been separated, there are adult 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.399 children eighteen nineteen who also are trying to figure out 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.240 where their family members are. And in some cases, as 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:24.600 a conversation I had with them men from Venezuela, he 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:26.560 had no idea what city he was at either though 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.480 he was in San Diego, and so trying to make 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:34.520 that type of arrangement and clarification is always challenging as well. 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:39.000 Yeah, and obviously also expensive, right, Like these things all 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:44.199 place burdens on like your donation network, and both in 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:48.040 sort of the community in general. And perhaps we can 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.680 talk about like, because the scale of support that's been 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:54.200 provided by the community is extremely impressive, and given how 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.720 many people have already come through this sort of not 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.520 detention detention system, perhaps both you could talk about like 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.800 the support you've been able to provide and how people 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:09.360 who are not in San Diego can help you continue 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:10.760 to provide that support. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:17.640 So the first day that we heard of folks coming in, 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.720 because obviously it's interesting because border patrol, like Pedro says 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.440 like they're claiming that these people are not under their care, 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.840 but they're very much acting as if they're under their 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:34.000 detained care. They're telling people that if they call an 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.600 ambulance to seek medical care, as we observe, they say, well, 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.200 that's going to affect your case if you leave. And 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.000 so people are very much under the deliberate impression that 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.600 they are being detained, but they're not being cared for 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:51.280 in the most basic way. And so we first responded 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:55.320 on Saturday. By Sunday we were there with five hundred 0:20:55.359 --> 0:21:01.399 meals that went very very quickly, providing shelter items for 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:06.320 people so tarps. Hakumba is a very rugged desert terrain. 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.320 There is no shade in these areas, so people are 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:15.000 making sort of like makeshift shelters, but there is nothing 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:19.479 shielding them from the sun, which is really unrelenting all 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.240 day and it gets up to the nineties. So we've 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.959 been providing tarps, pop ups, that sort of thing, so 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:33.840 people are not becoming sick from overexposure. We're providing hygiene items, 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:38.640 we're providing just basic needs. And that gets incredibly expensive 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.959 because if it was a static situation, such as in 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:44.800 May when there was eighteen hundred to two thousand people, 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:47.719 that was a huge undertaking that also took a lot 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:51.520 of community collaboration to meet the needs of so many people. 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:53.639 But this time around, as James says, it's like a 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:58.400 revolving door of hundreds and hundreds of people. So it's 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:02.360 taking hundreds and hundreds While at any given time there 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.200 may be only and I say only two to three 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:07.840 hundred people, that doesn't mean that to only two to 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:11.400 three hundred people needed to be fed that day. It's 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:14.760 that you know that is who is there at that time, 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:18.160 and when people arrive, as Pedro said, like they haven't 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.199 eaten in days. We talked to people that said that 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.600 they took two days to walk to Hakumba. So if 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.399 they arrived to Tijuana without much food in their belly 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.000 and then they're having to walk for two days, they're 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:33.880 arriving starving and begging for food and not being provided 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:37.240 with absolutely anything. So if it wasn't for all of 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:41.720 the organizations that are showing up and taking sort of 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:46.240 shifts to feed people, there would be nothing for them. 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:50.399 And we have absolutely no idea how long this is 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.960 going to go on. It could be over today, it 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:56.760 could go on for months year. I mean, we really 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:00.639 don't know what to expect. And organizations are being relied 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:04.199 on to provide you know, life sustaining care for people, 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:10.240 but we're not being communicated with from border patrol as 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:16.040 to basically anything, what the outlook is, what the numbers are, 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.199 what the updates of how the situation is going to evolve. 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:22.439 So every day is a surprise and we need to 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:24.760 have resources to be able to meet the needs of 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:29.240 that day. It's incredibly like consuming of every resource including 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:31.800 time and gas is six dollars a gallon. 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:36.959 Yeah, now you need to drive your truck right because 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.600 like you can't get to some of the locations, Like 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:42.240 I know, I have a bigger truck and looks of 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:43.920 my friends about to catch a rye with me because 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:44.920 the cause can't make it. 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:48.360 The exactly like, we have people that have gas efficient 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:50.520 low priuses and stuff, and they're going to bottom out 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:53.800 out there. So we have our huge lifted jeep that 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:57.680 you know doesn't get as much gas mileage as something, 0:23:57.880 --> 0:23:59.960 but it's also going to be able to get the 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:03.680 supplies out there. So every aspect of it is incredibly 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:09.439 consuming of resources and we don't know what to expect. 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:13.159 It's not it's hard to budget. You don't know what 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:18.320 I expect. So the community has obviously come together in support. 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:21.800 But then it's like, well, how do we manage this 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:27.920 when we don't we can't forecast what's going on, So 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:31.440 it's tough. It's definitely tough. We need sustained support. 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:35.680 If I may add on that, as Jacquelin said, the 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:38.359 people are showing up hungry, heavening for days. You know, 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:40.800 we get reports that you know, people are showing up 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:47.680 just begging for food, and the federal government more specifically DHS, 0:24:47.680 --> 0:24:54.000 more specifically CBP Border Patrol know this there's trying to 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.080 stall people out at whatever the endgame is, and maybe 0:24:57.119 --> 0:24:59.760 it's just another arm of you know, prevention through the 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:06.479 two parents. It's cruel. It's on purpose. People you know 0:25:06.640 --> 0:25:10.520 are are the ponds and whatever, you know, game is 0:25:10.560 --> 0:25:14.119