Groups of migrants arrive on a daily basis into the US where the wall on the border of Mexico ends. Source: SBS News / Ben Lewis
Several are from further abroad. A group of young men tell me they travelled from India, via Latin America. Unlike the others, they’re wearing expensive clothing and carry iPhones. They’ve paid smugglers to get them here.One man tells me he’s from Albania, a former soldier who had once served alongside US Forces in Iraq.”When I saw the border, I was so happy,” he said. “There were mafia in Mexico. The cartels. They take money, the police (do too).”As we look back into Mexico, we see shadowy figures standing on top of a hill. Guides employed by the cartels keeping an eye on their human cargo.”Most of the migrants will have probably been under the control of the cartels for five or six days,” said Mayer, as he pours another hot chocolate.Volunteers are careful to make sure the aid they provide migrants does not break the law. They can give them food, water, clothing and phone chargers, but they make it clear the Border Patrol will soon arrive to take them for processing and they can’t intervene.No-one will attempt to flee. The desert is deadly without proper provisions, so most will apply for asylum.As the sun appears over the mountain peaks, the authorities arrive in pickup trucks. The women and children are taken first, then the fathers, then the single men.
A year ago, Mayer would often find two or three hundred migrants here every morning.
The authorities deal with the women and children first, taking them away for processing. Source: SBS News / Ben Lewis
But President Joe Biden’s order to limit the number of asylum applications has seen numbers plummet.US Border Patrol said encounters with migrants in September were 75 per cent lower than the same month last year.
Yet according to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the situation is spiralling out of control. At rallies, he has accused vice president Kamala Harris of “letting in 20 million criminals”.
That’s news to the people of Nogales.The town is right on the border, with the fence running through it, separating Nogales, USA from Nogales, Mexico.Retired teacher Sam Borrego has lived in Nogales her whole life and becomes animated when asked about former president Trump’s description of border communities as places of chaos and carnage.
“Of course he’s going to blow everything up. Do you see people jumping the fence going crazy? Of course not. This is a tranquil community. We go back and forth into Mexico. There is no problem.”
Sam Borrego is a Nogales local and enjoys being able to easily come and go into Mexico. Source: SBS News / Ben Lewis
Yet an hour up the road in Tucson, a picture is painted of a region in crisis. is holding a campaign rally, where immigration is a key topic.”You know what Donald Trump thinks we ought to do?”, he asks the crowd of several hundred.”Build that wall, finish that wall and send illegal aliens back home, not to the United States of America.”The audience whoops with excitement. The mention of earns the biggest applause of the afternoon.Cheering with the crowd is Susan Smith. Asked if the former president’s language regarding migrants bothers her, she replies: “Not a bit.”
“I think it’s funny, I love it. He tells it like it is and that’s what I like about him.”
Mayer finds that attitude difficult to comprehend.”are trying to listen to middle America and middle America doesn’t know what’s happening. They’ve probably never met a migrant, they’ve never met someone whose father has been killed before their eyes and is fleeing for safety.”A wall’s not going to resolve this.”As the last of the migrants are loaded into the back of a Border Patrol pickup and driven away, Mayer starts to pack up his things.More migrants will arrive tomorrow, he and other volunteers will be back to help them, authorities will catch most if not all of them.
A never-ending game of cat and mouse for which no president has found a solution.
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Publish date : 2024-10-30 14:22:00
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