Walking away from the Benito Juarez Center in Tijuana was challenging. The people are back there after most returned from the new shelter called El Barretal. It’s 40 minutes from the old one and many said there was no electricity, running water and that it felt like a prison.
Back at the Benito Juarez Center there is still not enough food, water and other basics. Refugees are still trying to cross the border at San Ysidro and at the beach regularly. Immigration are processing 40 people a day despite reports that say otherwise.
Here’s my piece for the OC Weekly. It’s a black valentine to the journalists and photographers still there. It asks for a little less money-shot, a little more compassion. ttle less shark tank, a little more think tank.
Notes From the Deluged Migrant Caravan in Tijuana
The people in the shelter figured out that it was the sympathetic faces with expensive cameras who were putting out misleading information. But they don’t seem like victims to me, they seem resilient.