It Could Happen Here - Refugee Mutual Aid in Washington DC

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

Mia talks with Amy Fischer from Sanctuary DMV about caring for the refugees Greg Abbott and others are sending to DCSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Welcome to It Could Happen Here, the podcast about the world falling apart and how we can put it back together again. I'm your host, Christopher Wong. Now, three months ago, we covered Greg Abbott's attempt to shut down the border and how he was forced basically to back down by a Mexican trucker strike. And in that episode, we mentioned that Abbott's newest stunt was deporting people from Texas to Washington,

D.C. to make Biden look bad by, you know, moving the problem to him. And as a political stunt, this has largely failed. As a humanitarian disaster inflicting untold human misery on completely innocent people, it is still continuing to unfold. And here today to talk about this with us is Amy Fisher with Sanctuary DMV and the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network. Amy, thank you for joining us and welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. So excited to be here. Yeah, somewhat less excited that this is happening because dear God. Yeah. So I guess to start off, do you want to tell us a bit about what's been, I guess, how busing people from the border to D.C. We knew from the get go that this was a racist publicity stunt, particularly because the first few buses were dropped off right in front of the Fox News building.

right in front of the Fox News building. And we all initially thought it was going to be a few weeks of busing people. And here we are in the middle of July and the buses have kept coming. Buses arrive to D.C. basically every single day of the week except for Monday evenings and Tuesday mornings. And there have been probably around 3,500 people from the Arizona border to D.C. And the D.C. government has basically been unwilling to grapple with the reality of what's happening. You know, people are arriving to D. to DC with very, very little resources, typically like the clothes on their back. Sometimes they don't even have shoes on their feet when they get off

the buses. And it's been kind of amazing to see the way that the DC community has responded. It's been like the type of response that makes me remarkably proud of being a DC resident and being from the area. And also, um, it's something that the DC government is turning an eye, a blind eye to, um, and pretending like, um, the, the reality that we are seeing when we are talking to people that are getting off the buses day in and day out is just, it's like entirely different from what, you know, the DC mayor is saying about the situation. Yeah, and I guess, well, okay, so before we talk, I guess, fully about the D.C. government's just catastrophic. I don't even want to know if I want to say incompetence so much as just like, eh, we'll just let these people suffer. Can we talk a bit about what the community responses looked like and what y'all have been doing? Sure. So maybe to back up a little bit to tell you about sort of like what the experiences of the people that are getting off the buses. These are people that are typically coming to the United States to seek asylum.

They're being processed at the border for a few days. And I think what like have been commonly started to be referred to as like the perreras and hieleras at the border so like the dog kennels the ice boxes and the at the border and that are being paroled into the country and um so the customs and border protection cbp is releasing these folks to um like respite centers type of places at the border um in texas most of the folks are coming from Del Rio and Eagle Pass. And then they're being told that there's these free buses to DC. And it's a little bit mind boggling because we know that Governor Abbott is doing this busing purely out of the most racist, xenophobic intentions. And also for many of the folks, it's a free bus to get to where they're trying to go.

And so people are riding on the buses, arriving in DC. and then you know many of them are trying to get to other places along the east coast um and many are planning on staying in dc um and so what has happened is we've developed a massive mutual aid response, which has been super cool. So, you know, we have a crew of volunteers that meet the buses when they arrive at Union Station. And if you're not familiar with DC, Union Station is sort of the big transit center in the middle of DC,

actually relatively close to where the Capitol is. It's sort of like the DC equivalent of like Penn Station in New York or something like that. And so they're dropped off in front of Union Station. We have folks that will welcome them. And typically we bring folks to different churches around the area that have opened up their spaces as respite centers for us. And we, uh, you know, sit down with folks, we offer them some food and really try and talk through what their needs are and help them as best as we can meet those needs, whether it is, you know, folks may have medical or like trauma that they need to work through. Maybe they're trying to get to New York, and so we'll help them, you know, communicate with family members or help them find their way to New York. We, you know, for the folks that are staying in DC, we've done our best to help them, you know, find a way to kind of get settled and put down roots in their new community,

getting them connected to community members that help them, you know, navigate DC, teach them how to use the Metro, help them get to their, you know, check-in appointments as they're, you know, having to jump through all of the hoops of ice and being surveilled by the state and, and, um, helping them, you know, have access to lawyers to explain their legal process and really just kind of like, I don't know, I took a dude to, to target, to be, to like help them get go shopping and you know took folks to get uh just like the random stuff that people need when they arrive in a new place in the same way that like i don't know if i had a friend moving to dc i would be like hey what do you need like how can i help you get

to know this place like this is how our bike share program works. Like just the most basic welcome get settled. Can we talk a little bit more about what the sort of legal process looks like here? And what, like, for example, like explain what check-ins are and. Yeah. So, um, the folks that are arriving are being paroled in. Um, and so basically what it means is that they are then under surveillance from the federal government from ICE, which is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And what that looks like is a little bit of a crapshoot. So many, many of the folks are at the border given cell phones that have tracking on them. And so with that cell phone, they're being tracked by the government. They basically have to take like selfies ever so often to check in. And then they're basically being

enrolled in this program called ISAP, which is the, I can't remember the acronym. It's a supervision program. And so they have to go to an ICE office once they arrive in whatever city that they're arriving to. Oftentimes they're being asked to turn in the ICE cell phones and having to download an app on their cell phones if they don't have a cell phone they might be given an ankle monitor or what many of the spanish speakers called like a griete be basically like an ankle shackle um for electronic monitoring they'll have um officers you know show up at their house so sometimes they have, you know, show up at their house. So sometimes they have to, you know, be at home from 7am to 7pm. So that, you know, immigration come come by and make sure that they're like, still there. And basically, that part of the program is entirely so the government

can keep a track of where these folks are, It has nothing to do with like the actual legal process that they are trying to go through to be able to stay here permanently. So separate and apart from that, the vast majority of these folks are asylum seekers. And so what that means is that, you know, once they're here, they have a year to apply for asylum. And then they're thrust into the like totally broken asylum system that has, you know, years long backlogs and things like that. And so then they'll be basically trying to find a way to get an asylum grant to be able to stay here permanently while also navigating the,

the surveillance that's happening on the eye side of things are so i know something that happens with like i guess regular prison a lot are people being forced to pay for the ankle bracelets no thank god okay which is which is something at least minimum but yeah still jesus yeah. I mean, I will say that one of the issues that we have started sort of trying to figure out how to navigate is that what we're seeing is people, you know, they get the iCell phones at the border. And then at their check-in, they're supposed to turn in the iCell phones and then download this surveillance app on their phone. Many folks don't have a cell phone or the app only works if you have, I think, a 5G phone. So you basically have to have like the fanciest of the phones, which if you're an asylum seeker and you just risked it all to come here to seek safety and you don't really have a support in the U.S.

and now you're being told that you have to have this super fancy phone or you get an ankle shackle, it's just kind of a ridiculous thing knowing that it's okay, maybe you're privileged enough to be able to be surveilled on your own personal cell phone or you just have to have it in cool shackle at all times welcome i'm daniel thrill won't you join me at the fire and dare enter nocturnal tales from the, presented by iHeart and Sonoro. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America.

From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin

America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network available on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast hi i'm ed zitron host of the better

offline podcast and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tex elite has turned silicon valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, better offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just

hate the people in charge, and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough, so join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry, and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba.

He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian.

Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well.

Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So much of this process, just like, it really feels just like it's just, it's surveillance just sort of for the purpose of humiliation it's surveillance for the purpose of humiliation it's surveillance for the sake of some um this idea that we've been dealing with in the u.s. since September 11th, that immigration is a national security concern, that, you know, if immigrants aren't being surveilled 24 hours a day, then like Lord knows what they could do. When the reality is, is these are folks that are just like

normal people trying to live their best lives. And I also think how I think it's really important to say how much of this is also entirely based on government funding and availability. That so oftentimes the decision as to what kind of surveillance you're under is based upon what is available based on contracts with, you know, private surveillance companies and private prison companies that have a surveillance arm and things like that. It's entirely profit driven. Yeah, definitely. Again, I keep thinking about prisons and it's just like yeah i mean literally literally the same companies doing this kind of stuff and how yeah and like i

think i don't know there's there's this kind of like i mean i guess people it's just a prison industrial complex but yeah there's this whole there's a sort of like state private sector complex they both feed on each other where you have these companies taking federal money to do stuff. You have these companies who are like, have figured out ways to extract like money from the people that are surveilling. And I guess, okay.

Keep, keep keeping on the thread of the state, making people's lives miserable. Um, yeah. So Muriel Bowser, not doing anything. Uh, yeah yeah we talked about that a bit so muriel bowser's uh messaging that we have received has evolved a little bit here and there

so sometimes she says that the majority of people that are getting off the bus have everything they need and have family supporting them. And so there actually is no reason for the government to step forward because these people already have all of their needs met, which I would say maybe one person or one family every few days has someone that's, you know, ready to meet them when they step off the bus, but the vast majority of people don't. And I would say that we're seeing an ever increasing amount of people that don't have anybody in the United States. And so they really are in need of a lot of supports to help them really figure out their way here because they don't have cousins

or family friends or extended family, whatever it may be, to help them, you know, put down roots in their new communities. In recent weeks, her messaging has shifted a little bit because there is actually a Spain-based organization that got a grant from FEMA to support on the buses. And so now Bowser's response is, this organization SAMU has it. It's covered. There's no, like, one, refusing to even acknowledge the fact that the Mutual Aid Network has been and continues to do the vast majority of the welcoming of the folks that are arriving. And two, once again, refusing to acknowledge that there is any role that DC could be or should be playing here. Yeah, and it definitely, it seems like, I don't know, I mean, it's a kind of classic, like, state two-step, where it's like, yeah, on the one hand, it's like, okay, there's no problem. The second thing is we found an NGO we can sort of like pretend is doing the actual work. And

I guess one of the other things that I saw from y'all recently was a bunch of people got exposed to COVID while doing this, and there was like you guys did basically a work stoppage? So,

last week, we basically hit a wall. Many of our core organizers had been exposed to COVID. We were running out of funds because this work is expensive. Yeah. running out of funds because this work is expensive. Yeah. Um, and we had been doing this as volunteers around the clock,

you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months. And last week we kind of hit a wall and, um, told this NGO that is receiving FEMA funding that we needed to take a beat and take two days where, you know, folks could get COVID tested and make sure they were in the clear to come back to work and rest and also spend time like we you know call it a work stoppage but we're all still working we were all you know having conversations as to how we make this work

more sustainable how we find you know systems of support to to make this this welcome last. And unfortunately that resulted in people basically getting stranded at Union Station. Um, and when our folks were able to return to welcoming buses on, um, you know, later in the week, they ended up with like, I don't know, 30 additional people that had basically been sleeping at Union Station because this other NGO that, you know, is receiving federal funding to do the work that the mayor is saying has it and therefore she doesn't have to do anything didn't show up. And, and there were a handful of good Samaritans that like, you know, would be at Union Station and see a bunch of folks and they, you know, spoke different languages and would be able to support them kind of here and there. But it really showed how, um, I think it really proved the, the, the, the work that the mutual aid network had been holding and that, you know, if we tried to take a step back, things fall and really showed how much we need others to step in because the work that we've been holding has been, you know, wearing us down and hiding the situation a little bit, right? That people don't, you know, when we're able to really show up and provide the folks that are arriving

with the support that they need, what it means is that the government isn't paying attention because it's not their problem in that moment. It means that DC residents don't have to walk by asylum seekers when they're trying to get to the metro after work. It means that the people are cared for. And that's great. And it's work that we're proud of. And it's work that we're doing well. But it's also work that we need support doing.

Because it's a lot. And the numbers have increased. You know. numbers have increased, you know, and, and we want to be able to provide welcome. We want to be able to give the folks what they need, but as long as we're sort of living in this world where bus tickets are massively expensive and food is expensive and, know we gotta we gotta help clothe people and and help people meet their needs then then we have to have support and that's just that's just the reality yeah that's one of the things i think is really frustrating about this too is it's like it's not like the resources that you just don't exist like it's not it's not even like the state

hasn't like attempted to put resources out but it just got fed into this ngo complex people who are just doing nothing and i don't know like the the the the way you get to see sort of both arms of what the state does or it's like okay on the one hand you have the part of the state that's just hitting people with clubs that's just doing this stuff and you get the sort of political arm of the state who just like again are just literally shuffling people's lives around as as you know as political theater and the political political theory doesn't matter because these people's lives don't matter to the state or to anyone who has even a tiny bit of power unless you know they're it's visible enough that people are like the people have to see it and that people you know get annoyed because hey, look at this thing happening.

That's like interfering with my life now. And, you know, and then it's like, oh, hey, they're supposed to be part of the state that like takes care of people. And it just isn't. And that's just incredibly frustrating. I don't know. It's. I think of a few things. So when we first started seeing buses coming to DC,

you know, that people are dropped off in front of union station. And at the time there was an encampment of unhoused people that, you know, had their tents and stuff in front of union station. And so folks would get off the bus and that, you know, had their tents and stuff in front of Union Station. And so folks would get off the bus and say, you know, what are the tents? Like, who are these people living in tents? And so be like, welcome, welcome to the nation's capital of this place that you just came to seek opportunity to seek safety. And you're immediately showing getting showed in the most, you know, visible terms possible of the way that the state is failing its own people.

Because people in D.C. don't have housing and housing here is immensely expensive. I say in the early days because in I think it was in May that encampment was cleared and so those people lost their homes and now it continues to be a struggle that you know if we are unable to provide housing for the people that get off the bus, they are going into the D.C. shelter system that is already overrun because there is a housing crisis in D.C. and a looming eviction crisis. And even for the folks that are arriving here on the buses, if they don't have support, they're thrust into this situation in which the state is preventing them from working. legally for at least a few months, presumably until they can apply for a work permit, presumably after they file for asylum. But these are folks that don't have a way to work legally, that have zero support from the state., tell me how somebody is supposed to live in the United States, feed themselves, feed their families, have a roof over their head, survive,

Have a cell phone for your surveillance app. Have the means to travel an hour, you know, once every few weeks to check in with ICE. If they're legally prevented from working it's just it's a total abandonment of people who need and wholeheartedly deserve support yeah and i think like it's it's honestly like honestly i think it's worse than abandonment right like if they just like if these people were allowed to come into the u.s and the state did literally nothing at all it would be better than the situation that exists now like it's not even just that they're being abandoned it's that they're actively being prevented from like doing the things they need to live and it's i don't know i think this is something you

see on a sort of broader level right where there's a lot of i don't know but back when i was in sort of social theory land there was a lot of talk about like necropolitics and the state letting people die. And it's like, well, yeah, but like they're also actively helping to kill them, too. Like that, that's like it's not just that the state abandons people. It's that the state abandons people and then it takes the resources and prevents anyone else from using them. And then, you know, and when it when it does sort of. Yeah, I mean, going back to sort of this NGO that's not doing anything.

It's like, yeah, when it when it does sort of send these resources out it's sending them into these in like in into its own sort of parastate complex with the sort of ngo sector that's just not doing anything and it's just i don't know like it it's it's this bind right because it's like yeah like on the one hand like communities have to be able to support each other but it's like we don't have the resources for it and that has to come from somewhere right it's impossible and

it's heartbreaking to see when DC is barely doing anything for the people that have been living here for generations and then when we have new folks arrive, they're thrust into this impossible situation and no one's really willing to engage with that problem. And there are resources. It's just a matter of whether you want to, to use them for these purposes.

And this is a problem that we're seeing intimately here in DC, but it's a problem that's existing everywhere around the country. And DC is supposed to be a sanctuary city. Like this isn't, this isn't DC with a mayor that's, you know, politically aligned with Governor Abbott. This isn't a D.C. with a mayor who is attempting to be vehemently anti-immigrant.

It's a mayor who is claiming to represent a sanctuary city, a city that is supposed to welcome immigrants. And yet saying welcome doesn't actually mean welcome. Yeah. I remember like I'm in Chicago and, you know, Chicago is also sanctuary city. And I, I, you know,

we had to physically stop deportation flights with our bodies. Like, this haunting memory I always remember. The first big anti-ICE, anti-Kids in Cages protests that we had, one of the groups that showed up to this thing, it was called Heartland Alliance, and they described themselves as this human rights and anti-poverty organization, and they were literally running five child detention centers in Chicago. like this human rights and anti-poverty organization. And they were literally running five child detention centers in Chicago. And it was like, I don't know. The, the, to me, that,

that was like this, this sort of like the, the, it's, it's, it's the rubber hitting the road of saying you're a sanctuary city. And what does that look like? And it's like,

well, it means that your migrant justice organizations like run child prisons for immigrants. It's a refusal to engage with reality a little bit. And, you know, the NGO of SAMU that is receiving FEMA funding to presumably abandon people at Union Station is also, you know, if things go their way, trying to open up a facility in D.C. to, you know, detain unaccompanied children. And that's Welcome to a Sanctuary City.

Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter... Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows. Presented by I Heart and Sonorum. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network

available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how Tex Elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists

in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God, things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzales wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this

painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas,

the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Blacklit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's probably worth mentioning, it's like, you know know spain another country that has just like people getting like people so spain like has a part of north africa they control and you know like people like people get shot at the border by soldiers trying to like trying to climb fences getting in and you know it's it's this fun thing where we're seeing like i mean this is what's been happening for the last i mean really like forever like last 500 years has been this but this this sort of this this incredible racist border system is not just an american thing it's in europe it's in it's been exported like into mexico itself it's been i don't know it's it's it's it's it's a politics

that's just sort of everywhere and like frantex in the eu does this stuff like it's it's all just i don't know it's borders are racist yeah and they kill people and they kill people and it feels i i don't actually think we have to go to like like, it's, I think it's helpful to make those analogies of how this is replicated across the world. weeks ago there were over 50 uh migrants that were found dead in the back of a tractor trailer in san antonio including you know young indigenous folks and Haitians that are drowning in the water trying to find a way to come to the United States to seek safety. People are literally dying trying to get here. And what the folks that are coming to DC, in a way, are the lucky ones, because they're from countries like Venezuela, to publicly say, you know, these are the quote unquote right asylum seekers and they're able to be paroled into the country and still have to deal with all of this crap that they're dealing with.

to deal with all of this crap that they're dealing with. But there's countless other Black, Brown, Indigenous folks that are arriving at the border and literally risking their lives and many losing their lives trying to get here because of these like racialized border systems that we have and that we're exporting all throughout the americas like go south to mexico to tapachula and you basically have an open-air prison of black asylum seekers yeah i mean there's something that like like my my the reason my family's here is because we were able to like my grandpa got drafted into the taiwanese army and he was like no and because we were taiwanese we were able to get to the us but it's like you know lots and lots of people like you know if you were from south vietnam sometimes they let you in if they if you were from taiwan they will let you in but like god help you

if you're from like indonesia or just like from i mean sometimes you get people from china but it's like yeah the the i don't know the the way that just all of these people's lives are being used as geopolitical tools they're being used and then you know once they get here they're being used as just sort of internal american political tools and yeah it's just as much people getting killed at the borders and until we fucking make borders go away, like the stuff is just going to keep happening. And people are getting boarded onto buses and sent to D.C. because Governor Abbott thinks this is the way that he can run for president. Yeah. By being the most racist, xenophobic guy in town. And these folks are just political tools.

guy in town maybe and and these folks are just political tools and um it's it's devastating um and it's it's really also kind of amazing to be able to then also just like hang out with them and break bread with them and, and realize that we're all sort of fighting this, this mess together. Yeah. And I think, I don't know, like I,

we, we, we do a lot of episodes here that are incredibly depressing, but yeah, like I guess, yeah, it isn't, I guess important as a, as a thing to sort of end on. Is it like but yeah like I guess yeah it isn't I guess important as a thing to sort of end on is it like yeah no like we like we can take care of these people like we

can if we actually fight this together we can beat these guys like we I don't know like it is actually possible like these all of the things that we're talking about like this stuff didn't used to exist it's not it's not something that

inherently has to exist and we can make it not exist again i think the the response that we've had in dc has been a really like I can't say it enough how beautiful it is that we have a group of like over 200 volunteers that have stepped up. And we've been able to raise a remarkable amount of money. And we've had like, you know, little kids sell cookies to support our efforts. And it's really heartwarming. And people using their neighborhood listservs to, you know, get donations of car seats to be able to, you know, make sure that when we're, you know, helping families, we can make sure that like the little kiddos are able to like travel in car seats safely and all of that. And we've been able to, and we're doing more of this of like building relationships with folks around the country that are doing similar work. Or, you know,

if someone is taking a bus to New York and it, you know, breaks down in Philly, we're able to mobilize other volunteers in Philly to just like make sure that folks are like fine and okay and like get on their next bus. And that is amazing and beautiful. And to me, I think the thing that makes me optimistic and like mad at the same time is that there are both at the federal level and local levels, just billions and billions and billions of dollars that are being invested into solutions that are based on, like, detention, surveillance, border militarization. border militarization when god like if instead we just devoted those billions and billions and billions of dollars into making sure that like when folks arrive here they can have like a comfy bed to lit to to like lay in at night and have food and be able to like support their families i mean it it kind of sounds revolutionary,

but it's just like, it's so simple. And there is such a concerted effort to do the opposite of the most basic, hey, welcome to my town. How can I welcome you? If I'm remembering my like immigration history right they're used they had this program in in the uk where for a while where they would bring okay you'd have a family they're coming to the us and they get paired with a british family and the

british family would like show them the ropes and it worked really well everyone loved it and they stopped doing it because they once they brought people in like that they couldn't deport them because the entire community would show up and just be like no it and they stopped doing it because they once they brought people in like that they couldn't deport them because the entire community would show up and just be like no and so they stopped doing it and it's like that's a problem like that's the problem that like people are then welcomed and loved by their communities yeah like that shouldn't be a problem that we have to solve that should be like oh this is a resounding success yeah instead it's like it's like actually living in a better world actually having a community where people care for each other where people take care of each other and

where people love each other or people will fight for each other like that is something that the state sees as a threat and i don't know i i guess it's it's it's this it's this weird thing where it's like you know we like the better world we could be living in like it is is literally being built right like you know you can you can you can walk down the street and you can see people taking care of each other and then it's like here is the state who's the only thing that they want to do is just make everyone's lives increasingly miserable that's yeah like is it is it that's hard to just say hey like folks want to be able to just like live that's it it's all they want to be able to do is just like live they want to be able to work they want to be able to support their family they want to be able to support their family. They want to be able to be safe.

They want to be able to like eat good food and have fun. And the state is doing everything, but allowing that to be. And our like mutual aid work is, is, is helping folks navigate and do as much of that as possible. Yeah, I think that's a good note to end on, unless you have anything else? I don't think so. Cool. Okay, so where can people go to find and support this work,

and where can they go to give money if they want to, or actually to help volunteer too, if you're in the area yeah so um we have a link tree that has all of the links to support us in all the ways so if you're here in dc and you want to be able to support or if you want to donate um we have really cool t-shirts that we sell that say melt ice that are defined by one of our volunteers. Um, and so it's the, the link tree is,

uh, like the link tree, uh, slash DC TX solidarity 22. And if you follow that link, you will be able to, um, see all about our work, get the demands that we have for Mayor Bowser, support us in person, financially, whatever it is.

All of that lives there. And yeah, we will put the link in the description. Cool. That'd be great. I'll make sure you have it. Yeah. Thank you. And yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Yeah, and this has been It Could Happen Here. Go help your neighbors and go make the state not be able to prevent you from doing that. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com,

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