Mastodawn

My camera shoots fascists May 12, 2023

The coming post- #Title42 rules allow for 30,000 people per month from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba (though I haven't been able to figure out whether that is cumulative or from each country) but they have to come by air, apply online first and have a sponsor in the U.S.

I wish Americans could put themselves in the position of someone fleeing for their life, only to be told that they need to apply via an app, fly somewhere and already have a sponsor to get to safety.

Those of us doing humanitarian aid along the U.S.-Mexico border are expecting to see more people trying to cross the desert —unable to qualify for asylum and fearing jail time if they are caught for a second attempt — just as we approach the hottest, driest, most dangerous season for crossing.

Meanwhile, racist #militias are using this "invasion" hype around the end of Title 42 as a recruiting tool. This is an entirely manufactured situation. It does not have to be this way.
#border #borderlands #immigration #HumanitarianAid

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My camera shoots fascists May 12, 2023

I was visiting relatives (nice liberal Democrats) recently who watch CNN. I wanted to scream at the TV when reporters talked about the "crisis" at the U.S-Mexico border. Watching mainstream media, it is entirely understandable why no one understands the situation.

I now spend most of my year in the desert 30 miles from Mexico, doing desert aid (e.g. water drops on migrant trails) and, this winter, covering protests against the #ContainerWall. Every time I think I...kinda?...understand the border dynamics, I learn something new that torques my previous assumptions. So, I don't blame people who are not immersed in this for not understanding it.

But the way issues are framed by MSM are almost designed to lead to a sense of panic or a sense that this is too complex to understand. It's the result of a mix of ideological preconceptions, lazy reporting and the demands of fast-paced, ad-supported, corporate-profit-driven media.

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My camera shoots fascists

Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to stock my truck with water, snacks and a sat phone and do some day hikes around the Puerto Blanco Rd. in Organ Pipe National Monument. This is an area where lots of migrants and asylum seekers cross the fence (Trump's big beautiful uncrossable fence) in large groups.

Asylum seekers typically cross in daylight and walk the border road until Border Patrol picks them up. (Much different than people who try to cross the 60-80 miles of desert at night.) But we've gotten reports of people with kids left for 12 hours without being picked up and in dire need of water. Given the militias organizing in SE Arizona and the expected increase in people trying to cross and ask for asylum, being in the area to offer humanitarian aid, alert the Border Patrol that there are people who want to turn themselves in or document any militia activity seems like a good way to spend the day. If nothing is going on, I'll go for some nice hikes.

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Aerik May 12, 2023

@Mikal you're doing good work. Be careful.

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My camera shoots fascists May 12, 2023

@Aerik
Careful is my middle name.

Most of the time, the biggest risk with what we do is spraining an ankle or getting bit by a rattlesnake when we're out on water drops. But it's all mostly pretty chill for being in the middle of an "invasion." The Border Patrol generally doesn't mess with white Americans, though they've been pulling some stupid shenanigans with unlawful "no trespassing" signs along the border road east of here and then arresting humanitarian aid volunteers.