Journey For Justice Dec 11th Day 11 5 Million Dollar Antelope Wells Border Crossing facility 45 miles from nearest town...

Look at this 5 million dollar facility built in the middle of no fuckin where

Except where 7 year old Jakelin suffered and died.

Journey For Justice Dec 11th, Day 11 Antelope Wells and Jakelin Caal Maquin and 2,299 other children

Today we remember Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7 years old & dead in border patrol custody.

We hear about how her father told border patrol his daughter was sick; how he begged border patrol to get medical help for his daughter. How by the time his pleas reached the ear of a sympathetic (or worried to protect the bp reputation) officer, it was too late and Jakelin died.

We learn that between 2014 and 2020, 2300 children have died or disappeared in border patrol custody. TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED. And those are the children we know about and are counting. We know about 'collateral damage' and the value of brown and black children.

This border crossing facility doesn't even have a town near it on this side of the border - but 45 desolate, desert, unforgiving terrain miles away. 5 million dollars this cost - and that doesn't include the cost of the fuckin 'wall'.

The dark brown 'straight appearing' line in the background is the wall. IF anyone makes it over the wall, there is no way they can carry enough water to make it to a water source.

The construction of this wall could be written off as the most obsurd thing congress enabled along with the president getting some corporations and individuals rich(er) - if the land hasn't been destroyed, the path and migration of the native animals and insects and birds and plants hasn't been irrevocably damaged, if human life has not been cruelly and intentionally ended.

Our great country.

Journey For Justice December 11th, Day 11 fuckin Columbus NM

We've crossed over the Texas border into New Mexico where there is a small crowd there of those local folks providing humanitarian aid to immigrants.

We have been told there is a monument there at a memorial park feet from the border crossing that was put up in 2000 in order to protest u.s.ofa. immigration policies.

As we approach, I see it is a giant cross painted white with flowers and hearts looping around the cross.

The closer we get, we can see there is also a piece of granite almost headstone shaped at the base of the cross. We hear that the stone was just put up there this morning only minutes before we arrived. And that it replaced a smaller one.

This new headstone began with a paragraph remembering the migrants who have attempted to immigrate to the u.s.

And directly under that there is a paragraph also honoring the fuckin border patrol and thanking them for 'protecting' our border - the people who are hunting down, capturing and often killing those very migrants who are attempting to immigrate.

Marina and I - along with a few others - are also incensed. Protecting our border from what? From whom?

We hear that the original headstone did not mention border patrol at all but only those attempting to migrate and trying to hold accountable our awful immigration policies.

We are very vocal about our disappointment and how offensive this is. We confront the local woman who has claimed responsibility for the wording on the stone. She says she's the daughter of immigrants, while Marina states more than asks "and the wife of a border patrol agent", which she does not deny.

She defends her honoring border patrol by asking us "who do you think we call when we're in trouble?"

I say maybe your grandmother, or neighbor, or sister. She enthusiastially retorts "the border patrol" as if she's summoning the ghost busters.

We don't really have much time to talk with her but while the 'dedication ceremony for this horrific stone was going on, we have been amplifying the discontent and discomfort some of the local humanitarian aid workers were expressing.

I can't even take a picture of the awful thing, let alone the buildings were people cross. Columbus is a 'town' (I use the word loosely) of 1,450 people. If you could see exactly how desolate the landscape is, you would be shocked (not) that 100 MILLION dollars was recently built to monitor the handful of immigrants that might cross here. Most likely the ones who cross are the 1400 Columbus-ians.

Journey For Justice Dec 11th, Day 11: Texas to New Mexico: $100 MILLION dollar border crossing building

Headed to New Mexico this morning following the fuckin border, stopping at two crossings: one at Columbus NM & the other at Antelope Wells.

Columbus, a town (I use the term loosely) has 1,450 people. The government spent 100 MILLION dollars to construct a what, bridge-path-building to monitor the handful of immigrants that might cross here. Most likely most of the folks that cross are the 1,450 residents of Columbus.

The next crossing didn't even hv a town close by but 45 miles away. This facility was built for 5 million dollars & is where Jakelin Amei Caal Maquin died in border patrol custody while her father begged for help, knowing his 8 year old daughter was sick.

These millions are not even for the cost of the walls themselves

Journey For Justice Dec 11th, Day 11 El Paso

It's cold - from bright sun, then high winds, to snow. We think only of those people fleeing their countries trying to reach 'safety' thru this frigid weather let alone the tremendous mountainous unforgiving terrain.

Many wade or swim across the river, are picked up by border control, processed & then drop shivering in wet clothes outside the greyhound bus station waiting sometimes hours for it to open.

Please go to the goodwill, thrift shops, yard sales, your own closet & get heavy duty quality cotton or wool sweaters, hoodies, long sleeved shirts. Go to rei & buy heavy quality wool or cotton socks. Sweat pants, shoe laces, warm gloves & hats. Backpacks, blankets. All needed. I'm returning prob mid- January & will bring with me.

Shelters are helping hundreds of people daily. Everyone is giving a million percent - & it's not enuff. We have to do more.

Look carefully at the terrain people are stumbling determinedly thru. Miles without access to water let alone food.

We must help. It is our policies that are forcing people to flee their homelands - the same policies that provide us with abundant cheaply priced goods