WEBVTT - What Happens When Temperatures Soar at the Border? 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:06.640 All media. Hi everyone, it's me James. This is a pickup. 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:09.640 It's Thursday morning. I recorded with Joseph on Wednesday night. 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:15.480 Someone destroyed or removed one of our callers. Since then, 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.200 I've received photos this morning of a place where we 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.680 put it and it's gone. You can probably draw your 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:22.680 own conclusions as to how I feel about that, and 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:24.600 probably tell from how I'm talking to it, and I'm 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.400 pretty pissede off. Also, our friend Rafael, Rafael from Los 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.080 Angeles de la Desierto is without a vehicle at the moment. 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.000 His truck broke. This is a person who gives every 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:39.320 ounce of his being to rescuing migrants. He is there 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.400 with them in their hardest times. When they pass away, 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.760 he's there to recover their remains with dignity, to connect 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.960 their families with the passing moments of their loved ones. 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.000 He's there to rescue people. He rescued a woman and 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:53.120 child on Monday. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.000 His truck's broken, and if you're able to give, I'm 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:58.440 going to include a link in the show notes. 0:00:58.440 --> 0:00:59.880 I talked to Borderland Reef Collective. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.200 We all agree that the most important thing right now 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.560 is to get money to Raphael so he can continue 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.240 doing that life saving search and rescue work as we 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.039 hit record temperatures here and before it gets freezing cold 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.720 in the winters. So if you can, please please just 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.080 a few bucks, like we'll buy them an old track. 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.760 I'll fix it. I just don't want more people to 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.600 die out there, and I think having a track for 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.000 Rafael would meaningfully make it safer for people. So if 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.480 you're able to give, please give. Otherwise, please enjoy this podcast. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.640 And yeah, I understand if you can't. It's a hard 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.319 time for everyone, but yeah, either way, help if you 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:43.560 can enjoy this podcast. BI Hi everyone, and welcome to 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.200 the podcast today. It's me James and I'm joined by 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.720 Joseph Hauser, who's a volunteer from Borderlands Relief Collective who 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.200 was out with me on Sunday. We're recording this on 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.000 Wednesday night and we were dropping water at the border. 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:58.920 We wanted to describe for you a little bit of 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.680 our what we we were at there. It was very hot, 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.960 things were in a bad way. I think it's fair 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.160 to say like despite all of our best efforts, things 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.799 were really difficult. That there's only so much we can 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.880 do when it's one hundred and five degrees and there 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:13.760 are dozens of people and we're trying to get water 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:14.320 to all of them. 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:15.480 So welcome to the show. 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:17.840 Yeah, yeah, thank you, James. Thanks for having me on. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:19.440 No, I appreciate you being gay. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:25.200 So I think if we begin by like describing preps 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.080 for people, and we first started messaging a boy going 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.640 out on Sunday, like Saturday afternoon, right, I think. 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.040 Yeah, Yeah, it was yeah, early Saturday afternoon. I had 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.440 just finished getting my haircut, I'd gone and grabbed an 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.720 early lunch, and I saw a message from you and 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.640 one of our group chats that some of the local 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:49.640 grocery stores were selling those big orange five gallon water 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.560 jugs for like thirteen dollars, Like apparently they're trying to 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:55.640 like get rid of their stock or something. So yeah, 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.720 you and me a couple of other people were scrambling 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.280 around the county trying to buy up as any of 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:01.000 them as we could. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.880 Yeah, like, I think that's a normally one hundred bucks 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.880 for reference. They're like an insulated water vessel with a 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.080 spout on the bottom. And given that we knew it 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:12.519 was going to be a record temperature and it was 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.560 already really hot on Saturday, we wanted to try and 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.840 get folks water that was as cold as possible. So yeah, 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.880 we went all around, bought all the ones from that 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.320 chain of grocery stores that we could and sort of 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.440 corralled them, and then we put ice in them. Right, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:29.800 But this is the next day on Sunday, and then 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.160 you and I met up and we went out. Do 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:33.880 you want to just give people a sense of the 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.600 people we met right from all over the world, the 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:38.680 different places we met them, and then then the sort 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.040 of condition that we found them in. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:40.640 Yeah. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.280 So the first group of people we met, we ran 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.640 into four Mauritanian men. Yeah, they seemed to be in 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.360 pretty good spirits. They were all traveling together. Give them 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:56.200 some food, gatorade, water, kind of our typical stuff that 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.240 we hand out. Yeah, and I don't know, maybe three 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.760 minutes down the road from there. I don't know where 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.480 the man was from, but is Asian man that did 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.760 not look to be in great shape. His clothes was 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.640 torn up, his face was really dirty. He from what 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.440 we could understand, he was saying he had been mugged, 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:21.040 his cell phone had been stolen from him. Yeah, and 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.359 he just looked in a bad way. So we you know, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:30.560 gave him water, gave him again some gatorade, and when 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:32.760 we tried to give him some food, he was just like, 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.040 I can't, like, I'm so like, he's just so dehydrated. 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.839 He couldn't stomach anything other than liquid. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:40.480 Yeah. 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.000 It was like we see people all the time who 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.680 who were in a bad state, but it's pretty rare 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.000 people to be like, I can't eat, I'm too dehydrated, 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.640 I can't face food right now. Because he'd been walking 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.400 for at least seven eight hours, I'm guessing, if not days. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.080 Yeah, that's how he came man. 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.159 Because we would just drive along and he came out 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.200 of the verge like with his hands in the air, 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.560 looking just so afraid, like I'll stay with me for 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.440 a while, like absolute like fear, but he. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.760 Had yeah, like he just looked stricken. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:17.960 Yeah, yeah, like just really, it's just so sad to 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.120 see someone like reduced to that. I'm glad we were 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.640 able to help him and get him the stuff that 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:28.440 he needed. And then from there we moved on to 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.560 I'm trying to think where we went next. We went 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.920 up to the top, right, we drove up to the 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:33.559 top of them mountain. 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:36.719 Yeah, we went up to an area where Borderlands Relief 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.640 Collective has set up what we call a welcome station. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.520 It's up on top of one of the smaller peaks 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.120 in the area. It gives us a good view, like 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:47.760 you can see all the way down to the actual 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.800 border and stuff and kind of take note of like okay, 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.680 like we've got a group coming up here, there's some 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.839 people crossing over there. And then we've primarily done that 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.640 in the winter time, just to greet people with some 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.840 like some hot teas, some water food, just basically things 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.520 to say like hey, like you know you're here, yeah, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.880 and at least give them a friendly face, because who 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.919 knows what they've you know, what everyone's been through just 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.440 to get to that point. But yeah, So we dropped 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.040 one of our water jugs there and then went a 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.760 little bit further down the road to a gate that 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.080 I think Border Patrol maintains that gate maybe cal fire 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.880 yeah as well, they keep that locked pretty much always, 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.479 but we know people take that road up obviously, So 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.040 we left one of the smaller water jugs we were 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:37.720 able to pick up. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:39.719 I think that one was like a two or three 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.760 gallon that we left there. 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.320 Right, Yeah, because people people walk up for the boarder. 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.679 I always like that spot. Oh it's weird because sometimes 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:49.679 you see people in your they've got a long walk 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:51.120 and it's hot and I'm up here. 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:52.719 And there down there and that that sucks. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.680 Yeah, sometimes it's a really if it was anywhere else, 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:57.680 it would be a beautiful view. It's a baby though, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.760 with little oak grove and like the times you'll see 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.760 like a red tailed hawk or something and it'll be 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.400 like level with your eye line because you're at the 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.919 top there and it's but unfortunately, yeah, it's at the border, 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.520 so people have to suffer miserably there. 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.360 Yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous like natural landscape, but it is 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.240 like just so unbelievably deadly and unforgiving. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:22.280 Yeah, Like you and I have both hiked, like alongside 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.080 hiking up and down the roads. We've hiked on the 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.360 trails and microans often take. And I've hacked a lot, 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:31.120 you've hiked a lot. It's incredibly difficult going. It's difficult 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.840 for us as like fit people with technical apparel and 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.920 good shoes, like we often see people in flip flops 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.240 or like crappy sneakers. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.360 Yeah, if they have footwear at all at that point. 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:44.960 Yeah, I remember a number of the people we ran 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:48.320 into didn't have shoes, like later in the day. Yeah, 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.320 and I've definitely given away shoes before. And then we 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.560 have some of my drug. I'm a giant person, not everyone. 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.640 It's like penguin flip of feet, so I wasn't able 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.960 to help everyone. And so yeah, we went from there, 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.640 we dropped another We hiked to water in a little bit. 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:07.320 The road was too narrow to turn the truck around, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.800 and we dropped that and a navigate and then I 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.400 think at that point things were pretty normal, and that 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:19.320 was like a normal water drop day or a driving 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:21.760 to drop day, I should say, not a hiking one. 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:23.720 Do you want to describe what we saw at the 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:25.320 next place you went to, because I think that was 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:29.000 when both of us realized that, like things were going 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.040 to be worse than normal and people needed as much 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:32.559 helps as we could possibly get them. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:33.040 Yeah. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.640 So basically, once we finished up in that area, we 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.320 went from where we were, we went a little bit 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:40.400 further south. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.800 I don't know, I was like maybe a ten minute drive, 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:43.280 you think. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.720 Once we got back to the main road, Yeah, we 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.800 ran into. 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:49.960 A group of three men. 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:55.480 Believe they were more Aitanian again a different group of men. Yeah, 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:57.199 when we came across them, they were kind of walking 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.440 almost like just middle of the on the road, Yeah, 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:02.160 which was kind. 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:03.800 Of like keyed us in that, like, oh, like we 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:09.040 should stop and check on these guys. They overall seemed to. 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.360 Be doing pretty well, like they were obviously very tired, 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.520 exhausted from their journey, but they were telling us that, 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:18.160 you know, like oh we've got another. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.280 Two, We've got two more they fell behind. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.760 So we gave these guys, you know again the normal 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.000 like food, gatorade, water, checked in with them to see 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.520 if they had like any wounds or anything we could treat, 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.880 and they seemed pretty good. So we hung out in 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.120 that area for I don't know, it was maybe five 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.480 ten minutes max. Before we saw the people that they 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:43.679 had mentioned were further down the road. 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:45.960 So another two guys came up. 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.040 We again gave them what supplies they seemed like they needed. 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.080 The the fifth guy in that group seemed to be 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:55.520 in the worst shape. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:56.280 Of all of them. 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.320 Yeah, he was upright. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.640 And you know, like moving under his own power, but 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:04.280 like you just kind of see that little wobble in 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.680 his step. So we kind of took some extra time 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.720 with him. I believe we got him like a little 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:12.520 ice pack to put on the back of his neck, 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.679 just to try and bring his body temperature down, and 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.199 then kind of just got that. All five of them 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:25.320 regrouped together under a tree in some shade, and then 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.880 from there we went, I don't know, maybe we got 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:33.880 maybe three hundred feet down the road and we came 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.120 across a group of five I believe they were all 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:38.120 Spanish speakers. 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.120 I didn't catch where they were from. 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.800 Yeah, I think once it's from Colombia. I can't remember 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:46.080 where the whole group were from. 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.839 There, but that was so far. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.880 Everyone we had run into was by a parent's middle 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.480 aged men I shouldn't say middle age, like young adult. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:00.199 like thirty thirty five maybe, like you know some we're 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:01.000 in that range. 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.400 Yeah, yeah, they could be anywhere from like twenties to thirties. 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:04.840 Yeah. 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.560 Like I think some of that is because it was 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.080 such a difficult day that like some folks who have 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.360 children or older people maybe decided not to make the 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:13.120 journey that day. 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:15.480 Yeah, they had that choice. But this, yeah, this group 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:16.600 was yeah. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.080 This group of five we I want to say it 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:24.679 was three men in that age range. There was a 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.080 woman with them and then a kid that if I 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.600 had to guess, probably fifteen at the oldest, like I 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.320 seemed to remember like clogging that he had braces on, 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:35.680 Like he just he seemed young. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.320 Yeah, he seemed like a child. Yeah, it wasn't like 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:38.960 a young man. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.440 And so you know, we got off to the side 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:46.240 of the road again, we're giving them food, water, all that. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.200 Again, like this is all off the main road for 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:49.800 that area. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.800 And like as we're interacting with these groups, you know, 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:59.120 like several border patrol cars are just zooming passed, like yeah, 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:03.640 just about nobody. Nobody's stopping the check in and that 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.880 nobody's you know, like you stopping them from big finger 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:09.480 quotes here invading. 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.760 Right getting getting on a bus. Is like people are 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.760 going so mad about us. We before they got mad 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:17.679 about Haitian people. 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:21.079 But yeah, so we we worked with that group. Nobody 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:27.640 really seemed to be in dire straits there. So we're 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:32.280 working towards a trailhead which we could actually see from 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.760 where we were working with this group of five, and 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.319 there's like a little bridge there and we just kind 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.319 of see some heads popping up. 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:43.040 Yeah, and we're. 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.160 Like, oh, I think you have my binoculars. We were 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:46.559 like checking to see yeah, and. 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.319 We're like, oh, like we like we need to get 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:48.920 over there. 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.400 So we get back in the truck after we get 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.280 them kind of you know, as settled as we can, 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.560 and we get over to this trailhead, which is like, really, 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.520 I think where the day because, like you said, like 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.720 it was kind of a normal day up until we 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:06.920 got to this trailhead and then things kind of seemed 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:07.640 to take a turn. 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:11.439 Yeah, talking of taking a turn, where don't we take 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.199 a turn to advertisements and then come back. 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:15.560 That's why they're paying you the big bucks. 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.000 That is. Yeah, I see did you see that? No, 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:18.679 no one saw that. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:33.880 Come all right, we are back. I hope that you 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.200 haven't bought anythink you could give money to board Lands 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:37.320 Relief Collective of Google it. 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.040 Oh yeah, that would be really nice. I would appreciate that. 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:47.400 Yeah, who would I do that? Don't go to chamber Causina. Yeah, 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.240 so we got over there and like that location just 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.360 to give people like paint a picture. There's the road 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.320 which we were traveling on and then parallel to that, 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.920 parallel to it ninety degrees. It's a dirt road which 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.600 we pulled into the road that we had traveling on. 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.440 Was it going over a creek which is dry at 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.320 this time of year, So there's a bridge, and it 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.680 was under that bridge that people were hiding from the sun, 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.360 and so that's why we couldn't see them until we 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.400 were very close. And yeah, describe what we saw there, 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.640 because that was when I was like, oh shit, that 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.400 was when we started to run out of enough bottles 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.080 for people to drink out of. So we had to 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:30.160 like just start opening like cans of energy drink and 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.440 beer and stuff or whatever we had just to use 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:33.320 them as bottles. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.880 Yeah, so we we pull off the road and underneath 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.360 that bridge, I mean I didn't do like a head 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.720 count necessarily or anything, but there was a group of 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.320 like fifteen twenty at least. Yeah, you know, again like 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.480 mostly men in that like twenty to thirty age range, 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.200 but there were moms with kids and there were just 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:55.240 there were so many people. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.840 We at that point, we had you know. 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:03.360 Some water bottles as we had that one five gallon 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.240 jug with the ice water in it left that we 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.480 were going to take up to the top of this pass, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.240 and we just like by the time we got done 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.120 getting every one water. 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:17.600 We ran out of water in the jug. 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.440 I think we had just about cleared out all the 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:21.400 food we had. 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.400 We had no more gatorades. 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.280 We were scrounging around in the back of your truck 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:30.520 trying to just find vessels essentially to give people what 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.960 liquid we could, you know, like get at shakeout of 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:34.600 the ice. 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:36.960 Yeah, it was not good. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:43.840 And so then that was when there was one young man, 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.360 I believe he said he was from Jordan. He was 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.760 trying to get our attention and telling us, you know, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.520 like I've got two like I've got family up there too, 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.520 two family And he keeps pointing up up the mountain 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.920 towards the pass, saying he's got two family members up there. 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.680 And then another man I didn't catch where he was from, 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.080 but he was telling us there were two family members 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.800 of first man. And then there was another three men 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.760 traveling up there, and they were trying to indicate to 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:18.479 us that one of them had heart problems. 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.360 Yeah, was how they how they put it. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:23.720 So we kept telling them like, hey, like you know, 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.960 we're we're going to go help them. But the gate 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.400 to access that the road that goes up that pass 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:35.600 was locked. So first we had to figure out like 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.880 who we could contact to get through the gate. And 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.560 then that poor guy that you know said his family, 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.560 his family members were up on that mountain, Like he desperately, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.200 desperately wanted us to drive him up there with us, 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.360 but we had to keep telling him, like we just 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.320 we can't, Like it is so illegal. 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:57.200 For us to put you in a vehicle. Yeah, you anywhere? 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.640 Yeah, Like, at least the interpretation of the lowest Border 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.120 Patrol sees is that we would be like trafficking them 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:06.439 at that point. And like maybe one could defend it 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.040 in court if the person was like bleeding out or 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.639 you know something, but pretty much that is something that 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:13.400 we can't do. 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.119 Yeah, We've been out on a water drop together, just 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.240 handing out food and water to people on foot next 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.959 to the truck, and Border Patrol has threatened, like an 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.160 agent has threatened to write us up for trafficking. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.160 Yeah, yeah, in this particular incident, which like I don't 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:35.320 really care, This agent can go fuck himself like we were. 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.720 This girl was probably four years old. I would say, 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.360 I don't know exactly. I didn't ask. Wasn't the most 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.560 important thing at the time. She was with her mother. 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.520 They were both from Guinea and a Nigerian woman. Like 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.080 I speak French, so I was speaking to the Guineaian 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.800 family and like, I remember you were trying to feed 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:55.280 the little girl right like she had. 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.760 Yeah, another another volunteer and I were trying to feed 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.840 her some trail mix I had and she she wouldn't 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.679 touch any of it but the but the dried banana 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.840 chips that were in there. So yeah, like actually, ever 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:10.399 since then, anytime I make trail mix for drops, I 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.720 always make sure that I've got dry banana trips in there, 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:15.640 just you know, in case there's another kid that that's 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:16.560 all they'll eat. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.960 Yeah, And I remember like she wasn't very responsive. I've 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:22.639 been talking to her mom, and her mother's feet were 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:27.920 in a very bad way, like immersion foot. And after 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.080 a while we were like, this little girls is like 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.119 not very talkative at all, like maybe to a degree 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.760 that we should be concerned. And I think we both 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:39.560 we all kind of quickly realized she was very cold, 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.680 like potentially hypothermic. 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:43.760 I remember having there. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:46.680 I tried to record some of this for the podcast, 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.200 but it's all fun, it's all. I had to wrap 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.119 her up in a mile out blanket such that like 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.520 I was sitting behind her so that she would get 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:57.840 like warm from me right now and sit my jacket 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.320 so she would get warm from me. And obviously the 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.520 whole fucking podcast bit is my love blanket noise, which 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.119 is a shame because at that point a border patrol 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:11.480 agent arrived started swearing at us, accusing us of trafficking, 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.600 just like as if this little girl wasn't having the 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:16.240 worst day. 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:17.080 Of her life anyway. 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.720 Yeah, just like someone who's paid by my taxes and 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.520 your taxes turns up to scream at the only people 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.560 who are helping her that day and her right like 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.840 it scared them. And eventually one of our friends was 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:33.480 able to de escalate that situation and those people got 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.720 taken and hopefully protested, and I hope that they are 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:38.280 living a happy life in the US. 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:39.119 Yeah for sure. 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.560 But yeah, that was a bad day. 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.080 So yeah, we as you said, right, we can't take 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.280