A group of concerned activists are helping poor and needy migrants reconnect with their clothes and other belongings, which the good Samaritans found tangled in the desert sage brush and discarded at river crossings.
A video livestreamed to Facebook shows members of Arizona Patriots as they approach a former Salvation Army store in a Yuma strip mall that’s been converted to a homeless shelter for dozens of illegal immigrants who have crossed over from Mexico.
“We bagged up all of the migrant garbage and trash and pants and maxipads and toothbrushes, condoms and lube, and all of the other junk that we found along the border. So we actually found a migrant shelter here in Yuma, so they’ve converted the old Salvation Army Thrift Store into a migrant shelter,” Arizona Patriot member Jen Harrison said in the video, recorded in May.
“When we pulled up, they’ve got the windows covered with plastic bags and you can see the … illegals lifting them up, and peaking out and looking outside. So they’re housing them in the Salvation Army Thrift Store that’s since been closed down.”
“We have four bags of donations, but we’re only going to leave them one though, because I have some other places in Phoenix that are very deserving,” Harrison said.
The video gained a lot of attention online and was at least temporarily blocked from Facebook. Harrison assured KSWT the stunt isn’t fake news, but rather a part of Arizona Patriots’ work exposing the crisis at the border, which involves a mix of journalism, clean up and traffic monitoring.
“We have spoken to them and what we do is after a group crosses, we’ll go down and check the river’s edge to see what they left behind,” she said. “So we’ve found birth certificates, identification, pesos, medications, along with all of their personal items.”
Wearing a backwards camouflage cap and aviator glasses, Harrison approached the Salvation Army in the video with a big black plastic bag and soon made contact with an unidentified man who met her at the door. A sign stipulated no video recording, so she directed her phone to the ground throughout the exchange but continued to record.
“I have a bag of donations, I don’t know if you can use any of this stuff,” she told the man as she attempted to dump out the bag and he resisted her efforts.
“Look, though, … it’s important,” she said. “This is all the stuff they left in our desert.”
“Ok,” the man said, confused. “Who left in the desert?”
“The migrants!” Harrison shot back.
“Like these are their pants,” she said.
“You came to show me this?” the man said.
“No, I came to bring it to them, they left it here,” Harrison said.
“Yes, but you are making a mess here,” the man said.
“Well, they made a mess all over our desert,” Harrison countered.
“Ya, I understand this,” the man said.
“I have bags of this stuff in my truck, sir,” Harrison said.
“Yes, but I am not going to …,” the man replied, bagging the belongings back up.
“Not going to what? We know it fits them. It’s their things,” Harrison said.
The man eventually accepted the “donations,” but forced Harrison to leave.
“This is private property,” he said. “You can get in trouble.”
Harrison milled about in front for a while longer, peaking in the windows to record dozens of illegals on cots and spread out on the floor inside, including numerous children. Many were wearing new socks, lounging under blankets with what appeared to be the American Red Cross logo.
About a minute later, she was confronted by a scruffy, portly fellow wearing a Salvation Army uniform.
Harrison explained why she was there, as the man nodded along.
“If they’re so poor and destitute and suffering, you know, we have to pull resources from our American citizens here to give to people who broke into our country, why are they leaving their designer clothes in the desert?” she questioned.
“I can’t answer … I can’t tell you …,” he said.
“Well, you guys have quite the set-up here to accommodate them,” she said.
“Well, we do what we can. They’re here so we do our best to assist them,” the man said, offering his supervisor’s contact for further questions.
Harrison declined the information.
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