A look into the illegal journey from South America to the United States

[KillerGoose]

This is a little less political and more just insight into what the journey for illegal immigrants looks like. This channel has long been one of my favorites but this video is hands down the single best, most impactful video I have ever watched. This man is named Benjamin, and he is English. He has documented his travel all throughout former Soviet countries, middle-eastern countries and decided to document his journey as a "caminante", or walker. He starts his journey in Colombia and is working on making his way to the U.S.A. border. I have been in Colombia extensively, along with Panama, so this video really kind of hit home for me. However, given all of the discourse around illegal immigration, I also find it to be an absolutely fascinating view into what they go through in order to get here. The below video is the second entry into his journey and you can find the first here. The first video is him traveling through Venezuela/Colombia, but the below video is really the heart and one of the truly dangerous parts of the journey. 

[GMDino]

(11-11-2023, 10:39 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: This is a little less political and more just insight into what the journey for illegal immigrants looks like. This channel has long been one of my favorites but this video is hands down the single best, most impactful video I have ever watched. This man is named Benjamin, and he is English. He has documented his travel all throughout former Soviet countries, middle-eastern countries and decided to document his journey as a "caminante", or walker. He starts his journey in Colombia and is working on making his way to the U.S.A. border. I have been in Colombia extensively, along with Panama, so this video really kind of hit home for me. However, given all of the discourse around illegal immigration, I also find it to be an absolutely fascinating view into what they go through in order to get here. The below video is the second entry into his journey and you can find the first here. The first video is him traveling through Venezuela/Colombia, but the below video is really the heart and one of the truly dangerous parts of the journey. 

I will watch this, but I wanted to say I listen to a podcast about missing and exploited women and children and they were having a discussion about what some of the migrants have to go through on their way to the border.  Horrifying. 

[KillerGoose]

(11-12-2023, 10:44 AM)GMDino Wrote: I will watch this, but I wanted to say I listen to a podcast about missing and exploited women and children and they were having a discussion about what some of the migrants have to go through on their way to the border.  Horrifying. 

Yeah, it is truly heartbreaking. You see some of it in this video and it put it in perspective. 

[CKwi88]

(11-12-2023, 12:48 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: Yeah, it is truly heartbreaking. You see some of it in this video and it put it in perspective. 

I work in court and it used to be that most of the people came on tourist visas and overstayed. Travel from Brazil was barred during COVID, so many of them turned to crossing the border with Mexico. I've heard hundreds of stories about what it's like to deal with the coyotes. My father-in-law works on construction crews with some of them, and even a couple friends of mine from my 10+ years back and forth from Brazil have chosen that route. 

The immigration system needs fixing. Unfortunately it's too much of a political football for either party to really want to do anything about it. 

[KillerGoose]

(11-12-2023, 06:26 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: I work in court and it used to be that most of the people came on tourist visas and overstayed. Travel from Brazil was barred during COVID, so many of them turned to crossing the border with Mexico. I've heard hundreds of stories about what it's like to deal with the coyotes. My father-in-law works on construction crews with some of them, and even a couple friends of mine from my 10+ years back and forth from Brazil have chosen that route. 

The immigration system needs fixing. Unfortunately it's too much of a political football for either party to really want to do anything about it. 

Yeah, I've known a handful of people who migrated here illegally but most of them had overstayed their visa. They flew in and just never went back. I have never heard first hand accounts of the walking route. I did meet a guy who was kidnapped and gutted by the cartel, though. He even showed me the scar. It started just below his belly button and curved and zig-zagged up to near his chest. They sliced him open and dumped him on the side of the road, but he was found. 

I can't imagine what it would take for me to rely on these organizations to get me here safely.