What I learned thus far #2

I've decided to track my journey from the Bay to Chula Vista/San Diego/Tijuana under the "What I Learned Thus Far #.... heading.

So today I was on an orientation call (finafuckinly) with the awesome Sanctuary Caravan people! They are the group that is calling for spending 40 days and 40 nights at the border...at least. I've responded to that call. Check them out www.sanctuarycaravan.org if you want to learn more.

This is what I learned: there are at least 6,000 refugees waiting at the border in Tijuana to be processed for asylum. U.S. immigration officials are basically refusing to process them - which is illegal under international law and immoral under humanitarian procedures.

Officials are requiring people to que up to take a number, then they are 'informing' people when their number is drawn through a whatsapp channel. Do you fuckin believe it? First of all, you have to have a phone; and second of all you have to know how to use whatsapp; and lastly you have to have fuckin electricity to charge your phone.

If you don't hear your number called or don't have a cell phone, etc., you miss your chance.

Since this caravan arrived, the number of people being processed daily is as few as zero, and the most people process during a single day was 53. So you know it will take months and months to process just the folks on this caravan. In the meantime, other folks are arriving every day from other countries as well as Honduras.

Last month, Tijuana had as much rain in two and a half weeks that they normally get in an entire year. The rain storms flooded the refugee camp that was within walking/shouting distance of the border, and turned the ground into mounds of mud.

The Tijuana government then moved the camp to another location about ten miles away. The good thing about this camp site is that there is a cement floor so no more mud but cement is harder to sleep on let alone to put tents up on.

In addition to the camp, there are about 2000 to 2500 more refugees around the city sleeping in shelters or homes citizens of Tijuana have opened up to them, or in tents or churches.

The downtown Tijuana area has been 'cleansed' by police as they've decided the abundance of refugees, weakened and sickened by their time fleeing across countries, is not good for tourism.

40 days and 40 nights! Come to Tijuana and/or San Diego! www.sanctuarycaravan.org