1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: Al Zone media. 2 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 2: Like most of you, I wasn't having a great day 3 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 2: on the twentieth of January of twenty twenty five. I 4 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 2: wasn't about to watch the inauguration, so I went for 5 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,959 Speaker 2: a run in the mountains instead. I spent the next 6 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:42,959 Speaker 2: few weeks trying to focus on the things we could do, 7 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 2: the things we had to do to get through four 8 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 2: years of fascism. Just a few miles away from my house, 9 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 2: I set out for my run, and unbeknown to me, 10 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 2: my friend Primrose was staring down from the top of 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 2: a thirty foot steel monument to hate Donald Trump had 12 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 2: built the last time he was president. To be ir accurate, 13 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 2: it was one that had modified. There have been versions 14 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 2: of the border wall in San Diego for decades. 15 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 3: They said, no, we have an option. We need to 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 3: take you. 17 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 4: But you know, for me, I had to take a 18 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 4: risk because I was scared to stay in Mexico. So 19 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 4: they took us with under the bridge, I think the sewage. 20 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 4: We were walking with our stomach like under the bridge 21 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 4: to get to USA and Mexican borders. So they put 22 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:37,400 Speaker 4: ladder for us to help us. Those people when they 23 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 4: saw American immigration came, they just removed the ladder and 24 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 4: me I was on top. So I had yeah, I 25 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 4: was staged. Then I had no choice and the King 26 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 4: Balish was crying like calm, let's go, let's go. 27 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 2: At that time I knew nothing about it, but her 28 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 2: daughter Kim had already jumped as a Biden press. He 29 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 2: drew to a close but before Trump began signing executive 30 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 2: orders with pens, he tossed into the crowd. She'd made 31 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 2: it into the US. Her mum was in the US 32 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 2: as well. The wall is inside the border, but the 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 2: people who had helped it get up to the top 34 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 2: of the war had fled when border patrol arrived, taking 35 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 2: their ladder with them, and so Primrose was left atop 36 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 2: the wall, the literal and metaphorical final hurdle in her 37 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 2: long and dangerous journey that had begun in Zimbabwe, who 38 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 2: went through South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Negaragua, Honduras, 39 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 2: Guatemala and Mexico. But before we come down from the 40 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 2: border wall, I want to take you back to the 41 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 2: miss Soak River bank of Maragante. Last September, Yah Daddy, 42 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 2: my fixer, and I had woken up at no godly hour, 43 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 2: and so had the jungle birds. Along with half the 44 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 2: population of the village, walked down to the riverbank, carrying 45 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,839 Speaker 2: the engines and fuel tanks to the Piraguas. A few 46 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 2: minutes later, a chorus of two stroke engines and smoke 47 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 2: fired up as the boats set off towards Bajo Jaquito. 48 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 2: I stood in the bow, still trying to master the 49 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 2: use of the pole as we passed through the faster moving, 50 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 2: shallower water. Daddy sat in the middle and laughed at me. 51 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 2: Despite my best efforts, we arrived in one piece in 52 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 2: Bajo Chiquito, and I launched myself from the bow into 53 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 2: knee deep water on the rocky beach. In front of 54 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 2: us stood hundreds of people, patiently waiting for the Piragueros 55 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 2: to take them north and out of the jungle. Stretched 56 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 2: like a snake all the way through town. The line 57 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 2: of migrants must have totaled one thousand people. I walked 58 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 2: backwards away from the boats, the only foreigner not leaving 59 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 2: look for people i'd met the day before. About halfway 60 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 2: down the line stood Primrose and Kim, and I stopped 61 00:03:58,120 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 2: while we chatted for a bit about what the boat 62 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 2: was like, what they could expect next. 63 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 3: Yeah I'm going there. Yeah, yeah, I'm going. 64 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 2: To Do you have family? 65 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 3: No? 66 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 2: No, you just make your American life. No, it's okay. 67 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 3: I think I'm just trying. No, it's only me and 68 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 3: I do it. 69 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 2: Despite this, they had found community on the journey. I 70 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 2: can't describe how scary it must be for two women 71 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 2: to set out on this journey alone. It takes an 72 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 2: awful lot to embark on that journey and to be 73 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 2: able to trust people when everyone is a potential threat. 74 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 2: But if there's one thing I learned in a jungle, 75 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 2: it sit in the hardest times and the hardest places. 76 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 2: The only way forward is together. Primrose reminded me of this, 77 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 2: telling me how complete strangers had helped her. 78 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:47,119 Speaker 3: Very nice. 79 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 4: This, especially these Spanish people, they are very nice. I 80 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 4: don't know into life was. If you need yop, you 81 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 4: forgot them for your look. The other ones they might 82 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 4: run away by the other ones, they just for They 83 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 4: even give us tablets on the road, give us energy drinks, 84 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 4: give my daughter a sweets for enage. They push us like, 85 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 4: let's go, guys, let's go, let's go. You make it, 86 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 4: and we really make it. 87 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really nice to hear. I asked Primrose a 88 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 2: question I asked everyone there. What did she hope for 89 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 2: when she got to America? What was her American dream? 90 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 2: What do you hope for her in America? What do 91 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 2: you want to do in America? 92 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 4: I want to go to school, then she can I 93 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 4: see something in life. I don't wish my daughter to 94 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,559 Speaker 4: go big, to same or no, not at all. Yeah, 95 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 4: it's really really. 96 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 2: I saw them a few days later last Blancas I've 97 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 2: read chat with a group of little Venezuelan children playing 98 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 2: a game where we'd throw bottletops into a broken half 99 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 2: cinder block. We talked about the struggle they faced to 100 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 2: pay for the bus north, and we didn't record anything 101 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 2: that day, But as I was leaving for the evening, 102 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,119 Speaker 2: Kim asked me if I could buy her a drink. 103 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 2: I generally try not to splash my money around because 104 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 2: I don't have enough money to help everyone, and I 105 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 2: still have some scars from ridiculous concept of objectivity that 106 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 2: would lead some editors not to commission a story from 107 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,840 Speaker 2: me if I gave the subject a gift. But this 108 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 2: time I felt like buying her a drink, and I 109 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 2: let her select the biggest bottle of cold soda she 110 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 2: could find in the little store in the camp there. 111 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 2: I told her and her mum to stay in touch 112 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 2: and wrote my number on a piece of my notebook, 113 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 2: tore it out and gave it to them. Months later, 114 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 2: Kim was holding the same scrap of paper, looking up 115 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 2: her mum stuck on the border wall. A whole lot 116 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 2: had changed since I last saw them. A few days 117 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 2: after my scriptured podcast and the Daddy and Gap was released, 118 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 2: the United States elected Donald Trump as his forty seventh president. 119 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 2: It was a ship month all round that My phone, 120 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 2: as it often does, lit up with messages from my 121 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 2: daddy and friends asking me what this meant and if 122 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 2: Trump was going to close the border. I didn't really 123 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 2: know how to answer those questions, because if as one 124 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 2: thing we know about Trumps, he changed his mind every 125 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 2: few weeks. As we got closer and closer to the 126 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 2: day he was inaugurated, they got more and more concerned. 127 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 2: Most of them hadn't made it out of southern Mexico. 128 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 2: Many of them had told me that things there were 129 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 2: even worse than the jungle. They'd all been robbed, some 130 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 2: of them had been sexually assaulted, some of them kidnapped 131 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 2: and some of them killed. I'd heard about all of 132 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 2: these things every day from September last year to January 133 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 2: this year. In the middle of a run, or when 134 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 2: I was having dinner meeting a friend for a coffee, 135 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 2: my phone would ring, and I'd be confronted with terrible injustice, 136 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 2: and I'd be totally powerless to set it right. As 137 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 2: time went on, I heard from fewer and fewer of them. 138 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 2: I assume their phones were stolen, but there are, of 139 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 2: course more upsetting explanations as to why they might have 140 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 2: stopped contacting me. Noemi, the little girl who wanted to 141 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 2: visit Minnie Mouse Video, called me once from Tapatula with 142 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 2: a little tiny toy bear that I'd given her and 143 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 2: that she kept with her on the whole journey. It 144 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 2: may be happy to see them, and a silly little 145 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 2: bear carved from soapstone that had traveled the lengths of 146 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 2: South America with them. Every few weeks after I'd left, 147 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 2: I'd get photos of the bear in a different country. 148 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 2: As a little Losito worked its way closer to Disneyland, 149 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 2: some people who worked at Disneyland had reached out to 150 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 2: off was suggestions about tickets other people had reached out, 151 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 2: offering to pay. I was, despite the odds, hoping that 152 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 2: one day I could help one little girl see her 153 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 2: American dream come true. When we spoke, she was with 154 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 2: her mum and they were trying to log onto CBP 155 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 2: one hoping for an appointment, but it wouldn't work on 156 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 2: their old Android phones. I tried to find shelters with 157 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 2: her liable internet that would take them in, and called 158 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 2: friends and endio's almost every week, passing along questions or 159 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 2: looking for resources. I spent hours calling, finding it hard 160 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:12,719 Speaker 2: to accept that the capacity for mutual aid was so 161 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 2: overwhelmed that nobody had a safe space for little girl 162 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 2: and her mom, and wondering if it still felt like 163 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 2: a pepper Pig adventure or if even little indomitable Miami 164 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,959 Speaker 2: was scared now. Even from where I was was a 165 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 2: fast Internet and a weather friends across the Western hemisphere, 166 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 2: I couldn't find the help people needed, and it made 167 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 2: me increasingly angry and anxious the more I tried. It sucked, 168 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 2: but there was still a chance, however slim, that one 169 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 2: day I might get to see Miami meet Minnie Mouse. 170 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 2: So I kept trying, and so did her mom. Then 171 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 2: one day I got no response from her mum's WhatsApp 172 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 2: when I messaged her, nobody picked up the phone when 173 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 2: I tried to ring. I still haven't had a response, 174 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 2: but artically I'll keep trying. Even the last messages and 175 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 2: photos are gone now after my words up updated. Like 176 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 2: so many of the people who I shared my food with, 177 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 2: whose little children held my hand in the darkness of 178 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 2: the jungle, who I desperately wished and wish I could 179 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 2: do more for, they're gone. 180 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 4: Now. 181 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 2: That's what strong borders means. It means brave little girls 182 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 2: disappearing so a politician who knows nothing of their struggles 183 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,199 Speaker 2: can point to a statistic. I've listened to the interview 184 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 2: I conducted with them so many times since last September. 185 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 2: I still can't really work out her. Anyone with a 186 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 2: heart could hear that and think they wanted to live 187 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 2: in a world where that little girl wasn't safe. But 188 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 2: that's what people voted for. I guess I don't think 189 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 2: they did. Actually I can't think they did. I think 190 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 2: people liked them, and that's what they voted for. But nonetheless, 191 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,319 Speaker 2: here we are now, sitting in a country that didn't 192 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 2: want to help the little girl who flexed he around 193 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 2: muscles to show me how strong she was after climbing 194 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 2: the mountain into the most dangerous land migration route in 195 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 2: the Americas, and told me it was for her all 196 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 2: a adventure. Her mother gave a different account. 197 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 5: I didn't want to cry because I didn't want her 198 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 5: to see me crying. But sometimes I would explode because 199 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 5: it's hard for your child to ask you for water, 200 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 5: to ask you for food, and you don't have any 201 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 5: to be in a place where you walk. You walk 202 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,119 Speaker 5: from five in the morning, it's five in the afternoon. 203 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 5: You're walking, you don't know what to do, going through 204 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 5: more than one hundred rivers and asking God not to 205 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 5: rain and not wanting it to get worse. It rained, 206 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 5: and the girl got a fever. She got a fever. 207 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:40,840 Speaker 5: But well, God is good that we pray a lot. 208 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 5: I say that we don't know God so much in 209 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 5: the church from the process and the process that we 210 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 5: are in, and we don't know we can be so 211 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 5: strong until we go through that storm and we see 212 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 5: that He protext us. He knows that He was always 213 00:11:54,559 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 5: there watching over us, taking care of us at all times. 214 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 2: I don't want to dwell on this too long, because 215 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,440 Speaker 2: talking in public about grief is something I'm bad at. 216 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:20,959 Speaker 2: One of my friends died fighting in Ukraine this year. 217 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 2: A colleague died just weeks before we'd planned a trip together. 218 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 2: Some of my Burmese friends died fighting. But even as 219 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 2: someone who talks to soldiers for a living, nothing really 220 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,240 Speaker 2: compares to the death toll inflicted by the US border regime. 221 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 2: The little village in England where I grew up, there 222 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 2: are memorials in every town a village for the young 223 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 2: people who died fighting in the World Wars. If we 224 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 2: built those at the border, they'd soon be towering far 225 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 2: above the wall that does so much of the killing. 226 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 2: Things are as bad now as they've ever been. The 227 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 2: wall construction in the San Diego sector that Trump administration 228 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 2: has proposed will wave environmental and cultural protections and push 229 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 2: micro further into the desert. In the desert, further from help, 230 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 2: further from water. More of them will die. Speak to 231 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 2: migrants all the time, the ones who stayed in Mexico, 232 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 2: even the ones who took the Venezuelan governments offers of 233 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 2: flights home. As much as they ask about America, they 234 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 2: also ask about each other. Do I know what happens 235 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 2: to the Angolans who shared their food too generously? They say, No, 236 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 2: I haven't heard from them. 237 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 3: What about the. 238 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:31,079 Speaker 2: Venezuelan trans girl who braided their children's hair, Well, she's 239 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 2: still braiding hair, but she hasn't made it to the US. Gradually, 240 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 2: she did make it, and then she was immediately deported 241 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 2: back to southern Mexico. How about Rose, they say, the 242 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 2: Bolivian girl who came all on her own and founder 243 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 2: found me along the trail, only to be separated from them. Again. 244 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 2: I haven't heard from her in a year. Universally, they're 245 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 2: happy to hear about Kim and Primrose. They're glad to 246 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 2: hear that someone made it, that somebody can make it. 247 00:13:57,240 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 2: Because of the more than one hundred pages I tore 248 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 2: out of my note book with my phone number, they 249 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,560 Speaker 2: are two of the three people who let me know 250 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 2: they made it here. So let's hear from Primerose about 251 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 2: what it looks like to make it here, how it 252 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 2: feels to have the best outcome of anyone I met. 253 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 2: Let's pick up at Las Blancas there now shattered migrant 254 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 2: reception center. We're a hundred language for weeks and months 255 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 2: trying to get together the money to pay for a 256 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 2: bus to the Panama Costa Lika border. 257 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 4: I think I spent seven days in Banama. Oh what's 258 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 4: short with money? So I went into immigrash trying to 259 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,400 Speaker 4: ask them if you can they can help me to 260 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 4: take a bus to Costa Rica, of which they say no, 261 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 4: you have to pay your sixty dollars. 262 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 3: You're in your daughter which one India? So I pay that? 263 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 4: So I ask you people, man, the people I know 264 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 4: they helped me with money saw Fromanama. We took it 265 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 4: a bus from Banama to Costa Rica. 266 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 2: This is a very common story. People borrow money from 267 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 2: a huge range of friends and relatives along the way 268 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 2: they hope to get to the US, work hard, and 269 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 2: be able to pay it back. The whole process takes 270 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 2: every penny they've earned in their life and generates significant 271 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 2: amounts of debt. In most cases, this has made worse 272 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 2: by the fact that on arrival they will wait months, 273 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 2: if not years, for work permit, and their immigration judge 274 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 2: could stop the clock on this at any time for 275 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 2: any reason. Primros and Kim's case, Costaly can move them 276 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 2: through its territory quickly, as they do with nearly all migrants. 277 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 2: Next they arrived in Nicaragua. 278 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, to Nicaragua. Then in Nicaragua, I think we walk 279 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 4: from Costatica border to Nicaragua border. Then we walk again. 280 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 4: I think it was it was walk from Yah to 281 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 4: Nicaragua bus team. In US we just walk. Then we 282 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 4: when we reached there, we paid again to wander Us. 283 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 4: Then there's also place we walked from Honduras from nicarag 284 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 4: got to wander Us by stemin Us. I think it 285 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 4: just was the all day. Then from wander Us Guatemalam. Yeah, 286 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 4: in Guatemala we spent it three days again because it 287 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 4: was tough Guatemala. People they really need asking for a 288 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 4: lot of money. So my life was like asking people, 289 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 4: asking people and do it get and do we reach Mexico. 290 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 2: Then exhausted and broke, she came made it to Mexico. 291 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 2: Then you only began in Zimbabwe and took them from 292 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 2: there to South Africa, then to Brazil and across the continent. 293 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 2: Now they had just warn more country to go before 294 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 2: they made it. But I say, where to find out 295 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 2: this one country is the one that so many migrants 296 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 2: don't make it out of. 297 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 4: Then in Mexico. My life was like in this because 298 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 4: they were charging a lot of money. In In fact, 299 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 4: when we reached Mexico, we reached Tapatola and not before 300 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 4: ta Patula. I just forget the name. So they took 301 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 4: us in the bush where we paid money. Again, when 302 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 4: we paid money, they started teaching us. If we don't 303 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 4: live gus, then they walk with us. It was two 304 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 4: of midnight. They walk with us till they get a 305 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 4: transport to take us to Tappatola. So when I reached Tapachola, 306 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 4: you know people, we were giving information to each other. 307 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 4: So I was also following other people like from Cameroons 308 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,880 Speaker 4: and Venezuela. So when we reached Tabachela, we reached Tarpatola 309 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 4: the tend of October twenty twenty four. 310 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 2: Tapatula in the south of Mexico. It's where thousands of 311 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 2: migrants send up. The Mexican government at the time had 312 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 2: a policy of trying to keep people there and began 313 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 2: offering them free bus rides north. They had a CBP 314 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 2: one appointment. But unlike places like Tijuana, where there have 315 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 2: been migrants gathered for many decades, there are not as 316 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 2: many services in Tapatula and the shelters and services that 317 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,919 Speaker 2: exist there are overwhelmed by the demand. The volume of 318 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 2: migrants and the relative absence of services leaves a space 319 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,640 Speaker 2: open for abuse. That's what happened to Primrose and Kimberly. 320 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 2: They ended up paying someone who they thought could help 321 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,640 Speaker 2: them navigate the complicated and convoluted system of registration in Mexico, 322 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 2: the CBP one app and then traveling north to the 323 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,920 Speaker 2: USA and ultimately being able to make their asylum claim. Finally, 324 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 2: in the end, what they got was the opposite of help. 325 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 4: Then the agents judge US four thousand each, which is 326 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,240 Speaker 4: me four thousand, my daughter four thousand, of which I 327 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,439 Speaker 4: was I wasn't lift that man other people that we're paying. 328 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 4: So I just talked to the agent. Then I said, okay, 329 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 4: you please go down a little bit because I'm a 330 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 4: single party. And then I don't have anyone to help 331 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 4: me with that kind of money. Then he said, okay, 332 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:27,399 Speaker 4: three point five. So I started asking people become the 333 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 4: people I know, maybe they can help me. So I 334 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 4: have a lady who helped me with the money, which 335 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:41,160 Speaker 4: is she gave me four thousand years. Then my mom 336 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 4: sell my land. I was saving a land with which 337 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 4: she saw which lays money. Then she saw even also 338 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 4: stuff to get another man to complete seven thousand. So 339 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 4: we asked someone to send it to America because in 340 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 4: Mexico they don't do this money from Africa. So I 341 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 4: found someone here in America to receive the man. So 342 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 4: he sent it to me in Mexico. But when I 343 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 4: paid the man, the agent took me. He said that 344 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 4: way I'm going to take you. So he sent the guys, 345 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 4: which there were four Mexican guys. So they came to 346 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 4: feature us. We were six seven. Yeah, I don't even 347 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 4: know where they took us. So they took us to 348 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 4: the to the bush which is Guajaradella. I can't even 349 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:41,440 Speaker 4: remember it. Gajadella, Yeah, I think so. I spent the 350 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 4: day from October up to. 351 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 2: January in the background. Here you're here splashing. That's came 352 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 2: playing in the pool. A little apartment complex where they 353 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 2: were living in East La I just comment for migrants 354 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 2: to share a flat with someone else. Didn't have much 355 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,680 Speaker 2: in the way of furniture. The last time I saw 356 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 2: Primrose and Kim, it was by the Tuquesso River in 357 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 2: Las Blancas. There the brown water was something to be 358 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 2: afraid of. Migrants died crossing the river every day, swept 359 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 2: away by the fast moving water and relying only on 360 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 2: strangers to hold them as the current tried to pull 361 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 2: them in. A few times I walked out into that river. 362 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 2: I felt the tug of the current on my boots. 363 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 2: I wondered what it must be like higher up in 364 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 2: the mountains. At six foot three. The river I crossed 365 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,679 Speaker 2: never came above waist high. It's deeper higher up. But 366 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 2: even then, reaching out my hand to carry someone's bag 367 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 2: or grab a child's hand as they came from other 368 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 2: direction and struggled to keep their toddlers and their few 369 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 2: positions out the current, I get little jolts of fear 370 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 2: when I stepped on a wet rock. His primrose talking 371 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 2: about that part of her journey. 372 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 4: I was good, my daughter, she was strong, she was strong, 373 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 4: but she was crying also, but she had what wounds 374 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,399 Speaker 4: all over their body? Even me, I was crying myself. 375 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 4: I was like, I want to just put myself in 376 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 4: the water, then I can just go both. The gain 377 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 4: was tough, really really tough. The mountain, the stones, the river. 378 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 4: It's not easy at all. It's not very I don't 379 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 4: even recommended someone to say you use that and give no. 380 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,239 Speaker 4: And even myself I did know about it. I was 381 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,639 Speaker 4: regretting myself. I was crying. I was like, God, I 382 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 4: don't know my family, and my family they don't know 383 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:29,639 Speaker 4: where I am right now. 384 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 2: Back in Los Angeles, primers told me that she'd fallen 385 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 2: in the river and two Venezuelan men had jumped in 386 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 2: to pull her and came out total strangers on their 387 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 2: own journey, had risked their lives to help a woman 388 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 2: child who didn't know, with whom they couldn't even speak. 389 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 2: The river kills people who drink it too. The concentration 390 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 2: of human waste and human remains in the water makes 391 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 2: it incredibly dangerous to drink, even for people dying of thirst. 392 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 2: I couldn't stop thinking of that river and how much 393 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 2: it scared people, Feeling so grateful the Kimberley could to 394 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 2: enjoy the water after all of that. Next time, I said, 395 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:08,879 Speaker 2: they could take the train down to San Diego and 396 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:22,719 Speaker 2: we could all go to the beach. Let's go back 397 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 2: to Mexico. Now to Guadalajara, where many migrants told me 398 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 2: that of all the things they had endured, including the jungle. 399 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 2: Things were the worst of all. Promoter's arrival in Mexico 400 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 2: had not been great, and having paid one person, she 401 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 2: was now being held by another group and asked for 402 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,600 Speaker 2: yet more money. 403 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,919 Speaker 4: They were kidnipping me. They were asking for fifteen thousand 404 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 4: dollars each. They said, you're not going to take you 405 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:56,159 Speaker 4: and I was crying. Kim, she was also crying. They 406 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 4: are that people. They will get money paid. Leave I 407 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 4: think from my group for the people they were kids napping. 408 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,479 Speaker 4: It was only me left and they came and I 409 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 4: was crying depression. 410 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 3: I didn't know, but I tried. 411 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 4: I tried, you want to escape, run away? I failed 412 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,360 Speaker 4: down and my leg was something else. I didn't even 413 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,680 Speaker 4: go to hospital. My leg was swollen. And the way 414 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:34,600 Speaker 4: they would treat us it was paid. Especially when I came. 415 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 4: The other one wanted touching me the whole board like 416 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 4: I was like, please, if you want to do something, 417 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,480 Speaker 4: you can do it to me, and plus don't do 418 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 4: it in front of my daughter because she was also 419 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 4: crying disturbing. I didn't even go to hospital. I asked 420 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 4: them to go to hospital. The refuse, Yeah, James, I'm 421 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 4: doing no. I'm sorry because. 422 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 2: Primrose understandably had trouble even recounting this story. It's not 423 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 2: the sort of memory that's easy to share. But just 424 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 2: when things seemed to be beyond repair and when it 425 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,639 Speaker 2: seemed like there was nothing to hope for, it was 426 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 2: Kimberly who came through to help her mom. 427 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:26,120 Speaker 4: Yeah, they no, so Kim Madish was like, uh, lending Spanish, 428 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 4: so she was understanding some of the winds. 429 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:30,880 Speaker 3: So she just tell this guy. 430 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 4: Also was like, why can't you leave this woman because 431 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:39,360 Speaker 4: she doesn't live money. Because those people they took my phone, 432 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 4: they even break it in front of my eyes. 433 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 3: The fue I was leaving from Africa. 434 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 2: Kim Spanish was pretty good by the time I met 435 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 2: them in Los Angeles this summer. We went out for 436 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 2: dinner and I asked him what she'd like to eat. 437 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 2: She said she wanted to try seafood and practice of Spanish. 438 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 2: So we went to a Mexican seafood place, complete with 439 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 2: cabin decord, taxidermy fish on the wall, and the waitress 440 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 2: kindly helped Kim order in Spanish, patiently showing her different 441 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,679 Speaker 2: menu items and smiling as Kim read them off. It 442 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 2: was a happy moment for me and what I didn't 443 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 2: think i'd ever be having when I moved here in 444 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 2: the bush Era, But that part of southern California has 445 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 2: always been a welcoming place for me. When I was 446 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 2: in my twenties and racing bugs for are Living, I'd 447 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,360 Speaker 2: fly into Lax and often ended up spending the night 448 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 2: at Union Station or Alvera Street before taking a train 449 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 2: to San Diego. I speak Spanish. I always felt like 450 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,080 Speaker 2: the people I met there were such a better reflection 451 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 2: of la than the portrayal we see of it in 452 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,359 Speaker 2: the media. Now a decade and a half later, sitting 453 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:42,640 Speaker 2: in a Mexican restaurant where a lady from Nadiqe helped 454 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,639 Speaker 2: a little girl from Zimbabwe speak Spanish, it felt like 455 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,040 Speaker 2: a little glimpse of the way we're told things are 456 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,359 Speaker 2: here and the way they can be in working class communities. 457 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 2: A nation built by migrants, yes, on stolen land, but 458 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 2: one that nonetheless welcome people who needed help and took 459 00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 2: the time to help them. Sadly, not everyone was helpful 460 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,439 Speaker 2: on Camen Primaries this journey, and when her captains realized 461 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 2: she had no money to pay them, they eventually just 462 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 2: decided to let her go. 463 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 4: Then I think on Januarist seven or fifth, I don't remember. 464 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 4: Then they just really took us. Then they just done us. 465 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 4: I don't even know. Then a star I saw an 466 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 4: immigration immigration officer with the guy with the car. Then 467 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 4: I stopped him. Then I translate to ask him to 468 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 4: Then they said, okay, get inside the car. They took 469 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 4: us to immigration, so we get a pass from there 470 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 4: to another town. Because I was like shifting, shifting, shifting, 471 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 4: asking to I get to Joanna. But those guys before 472 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 4: they told me like, wherever you go, even if you 473 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 4: are here in Mexico, we put uh a tricker for you. 474 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 4: So if you tell anyone, if we find you're going 475 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 4: to kill you. So me, I was scared. Yeah, I 476 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 4: was scared. So I didn't tell you. Even the immigration officer. Yeah, yeah, 477 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 4: Do I get to tea Joanna? So I we get 478 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:29,119 Speaker 4: to join on the trendred of January. So I just 479 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 4: asked the Mexicans people. Then there's a guy as I said, okay, 480 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 4: I will try to help you, but you need to pay. 481 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 4: Then I said, I don't leave money. He said if 482 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:42,600 Speaker 4: you don't have maney, we can't help you. So I 483 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 4: was like, oh, I only asking people asking every people 484 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 4: to help me and the other people that were just 485 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 4: opening me was I said, people, we look where I 486 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 4: am with my daughter, I'm far. But my family, the 487 00:28:56,040 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 4: other family, especially my my other family mem By, they 488 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 4: don't even know where I am. So those guys from Tijuana, 489 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 4: the guys, if you're not crossing today, you're not going 490 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 4: to cross cours. Look the president and you said he's 491 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 4: going to shut down all the borders. 492 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 2: In between November and January, non stop roomors circulated in 493 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 2: giant WhatsApp groups. Trump was closing the border, Biden was 494 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 2: opening it. Most migrants didn't have the means to get 495 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 2: to the southern border even if they tried. CVP one 496 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:37,080 Speaker 2: remained mostly useless, and people spent days, weeks, months refreshing 497 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 2: it to no avail. Those who did get appointments would 498 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 2: find them canceled once a new administration came into office. 499 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 2: Their reward for doing things in the so called right 500 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 2: way to be left with no options in a country 501 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 2: where they were anything but safe and far from home. 502 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 2: Mostly my friends in the jungle have retained their incredibly 503 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 2: good humor. Delithuel and friends video caught me once an 504 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 2: hour on a hike. They started laughing at me sweating 505 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 2: going uphill, and paused a conversation to shout encouragement for 506 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 2: a while. A year after I left the jungle, I 507 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,920 Speaker 2: would still be more than happy to welcome these people 508 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 2: as my neighbors. But it seems unlikely I ever will 509 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 2: border crossings that drop dramatically. They're not as the administration 510 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 2: sometimes claims zero, but they are lower. People die crossing 511 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 2: the borders still. Sometimes the volunteers you've heard in my 512 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 2: last series have to hike miles into the desert and 513 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 2: sift through sand and rocks to search their remains. Once 514 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 2: nature scatism like leaves blowing around the canyons. Sometimes I'm 515 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 2: there with them. Sometimes we all wouldn't cross it up mountains. 516 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 2: So don't have names on the map to mark the 517 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 2: places where people's dreams died. Those people don't get a 518 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 2: viral video or a story in the New York Times, 519 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,240 Speaker 2: because even at a time where people are more engaged 520 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 2: than they ever have been in my lifetime in advocacy 521 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 2: for migrants, there's still not much attention paid to the 522 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 2: actual border that every single migrant has to cross Tomorrow. 523 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 2: That's what we're going to talk about. Let's hear from 524 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 2: Primrose about her. That same day, January twentieth, went for her. 525 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 4: Then they took us to the boat to the border, 526 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 4: but we couldn't get in the gates while they were closed. 527 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,320 Speaker 4: Then they said no, we have an option, we need 528 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 4: to take you. But you know, for me, I had 529 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 4: to take it. It's because I was scared did to 530 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 4: stay in Mexico. So they took us with under the bridge, 531 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 4: I think the sewage. We were walking with our stomach 532 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 4: like under the bridge to we get to USA and 533 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,440 Speaker 4: Mexican borders. So they put ladder for us to help 534 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 4: us to but we paid them three fifty three fifty. 535 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,720 Speaker 4: They judge I found the other people. They also we 536 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 4: were fifteen years Yeah, then the up does to jump. 537 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 5: It could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 538 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 5: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 539 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 5: coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 540 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 5: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 541 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,000 Speaker 5: now find sources for it Could Happen here listed directly 542 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 5: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.