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1/ Just been at Greyhound bus stop in Yuma to talk to some migrants. There were about 18 waiting for the next bus to Phoenix. Mix of male, female, children.
1/ Just been at Greyhound bus stop in Yuma to talk to some migrants. There were about 18 waiting for the next bus to Phoenix. Mix of male, female, children.
2/ One woman, from Honduras, said she came with her husband and 14-year-old. They crossed illegally from Mexicali, Mexico, into Calexico, California, on April 9.
3/ As we were talking to her, asking why she left Honduras (she said “crime”), two people who identified themselves as volunteers for the Salvation Army told us not to speak to any migrants.
4/ We had no phones, cameras, recorders, or anything out, and we had identified ourselves as media. So we continued to talk to the Honduran woman, who said she was heading to Texas.
5/ The male from the Salvation Army threatened to call the police if we continued talking with the migrants. Eventually, they intimidated the migrant lady so much that she apologetically told us she can’t talk to us anymore.
6/ We approached a male, 22, from Guatemala. He had a 3yo child with him and said his wife and 4-month-old were at home. He plans to go to Nashville, Tennessee, and work. He said he has a friend there.
7/ He said as he traveled by bus up through Mexico, federal police sporadically came onto the bus and asked for everyone’s documentation. If someone didn’t have docs, they would have to pay 2k to 3k pesos ($100-$150 US).
8/ He said he crossed through a hole under the fence near the San Luis port of entry close to Yuma.
9/ Soon, the Salvation Army people intimidated him into not talking to us, too. The SA woman said “there are people who are against this movement.” She said she was protecting the migrants from being attacked by those who are opposed to the “movement.”
