“Crisis of conscience at the Border,” World Campaign

As 2023 comes to an end, we focus on the issue in the news that may well determine the future of democracy and human rights in the US and the world at large.

The migrant crisis at the US southern border.

It involves not only the countries of Latin America, but nations in crisis around the world.

On Christmas Eve, Planet Earth Foundation’s Founder Keith Blume and Volunteer Project Director Clara Lippert jumped on a plane last minute to El Paso, Texas, next to Juarez, Mexico, where the Bridge of the Americas (and others) link the US and Mexico. It has been a primary point at which migrants have crossed the Rio Grande, by the thousands a day, into the US.

It seemed like the right place to spend Christmas.

We’ll go out on a limb and say we think there’s a good chance we were the only people on the planet to fly in as non-profit journalists on Christmas Eve to focus on this issue.

Every day before, for weeks, it was at the top of the world news, and especially in the US. But the global impact was and is at the top of the news for good reason. In addition to potentially being decisive in the US presidential election, the importance of the US to unique global events is tied to it in numerous ways. Most recently, Republicans in the US Congress have refused to extend aid to Ukraine (at a critical moment of an existential struggle in the war against Russian aggression) and Israel (and the leverage for, among other things, a two state solution for Israel and Palestine the US is pushing for), unless there is agreement on dealing with the border crisis and the immigration issue writ large. Shockingly, with issues involved that most agreed were critical, the Congress did not reach an agreement before leaving for Christmas break. Many think that it will after the first of the year, but it’s no sure thing. The politics are running the show.

What we saw and heard in El Paso was stunning, even though we already knew all about it. Nothing like experience.

We’ve been writing for years about how migrant crises around the world have been bringing the world to the brink. And it’s all about one thing–people fleeing war, hunger, poverty, persecution–and struggling to survive and make a better life for their children, loved ones and themselves. So you walk though the jungle and next to cliffs and fall off and lose limbs or die, or get raped, or attacked by animals, suffer extreme hunger and dehydration–looking at the dead bodies as you keep going if you survive. You do this, and then take buses and trains in unsafe ways through unsafe places just to get the possibility of survival in the US.

How to deal with the situation is a complex question that is going to require compromise to begin with to accomplish anything–and this is going to outrage people on the right and the left. The specifics on this will be explored further by us. But suffice it to say what you know we will–nothing will solve this or any other of the crises on the planet without basic needs and basic rights being provided to everyone.

Recent talk about migrants poisoning the blood of other Americans from former president and now candidate for president again, Trump, after his defeat in 2020, is as putrid as could be. It’s straight up Nazi ideolocal ranting that most of us never thought would be possible in the US. There are nations in Europe which suffered through World War Two where you can’t legally do this–for obvious good reason.

But it’s also beyond absurd. Everyone in America, and the world, is and has been mixing blood for a long time.

A conservative Republican who runs a shelter in El Paso told us that his position as a conservative is that apart from the moral reasons to care for those in need, migrants are the lifeblood of the nation, pun intended. We need them, he said, to fill needed jobs and to support and grow the economy as has always been the case throughout US history. They’re not taking jobs from others, they’re helping to create more. And be clear what he said about why the huge majority of migrants are here–to work. They want nothing else. Just to work.

We heard the same thing from every single migrant we talked with. Work was the watchword. There’s no confusion about the truth when spoken by people who have been through more than most people could ever imagine to get here.

We shot hours of film, with Keith interviewing in English (and at times being second camera) and Clara interviewing in Spanish, translating, and doing the primary filming and photography. We intend to keep following the story during the coming year, which will start the “official” 2024 election campaign when the new year is here in a day, eventually producing a documentary on the issue.

We end the post, and the year, with photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, on the border. And a short excerpt from videos on Christmas Day.