Bridge Protests - 6/24/20 - Part 2
6/24/20 | Felicia Rangel-Samponaro
Today at The Sidewalk School for Children Asylum Seekers ❤️ Part 2 of yesterday’s Peaceful Protest. The Ending. Victor Cavazos and I decided to stay on the Bridge with the Asylum Seekers no matter what. We talked about how long the protest would most likely last. Since, we ran out of the house we brought nothing with us! No backpacks with our stuff in it (water, phone charger, more face masks), we just had what we were wearing and my phone. Then I started to fall asleep while talking to Victor. My head started to hurt, my eyes felt heavy. I just wanted to sleep.
At that time it didn’t occur to me how quiet it really was around us. There no car sounds, no radios, no people laughing or talking cheerfully in the distance. There was only the sounds of the River and the Authorities. The Asylum Seekers had stopped talking and we had stopped talking. I curled up on the pavement and fell asleep for maybe 3 minutes. Almost all of the Children Asylum Seekers were asleep and a few of the adults. I guess the River drowned out the noises of the footsteps because I don’t remember hearing any midway thru the protest. It was quiet. Peaceful. I looked over the barrier and saw that the Mexican Officials were getting tired too. They started leaning on the barriers as well and holding their heads.
It was almost 4:30am by this time. I looked over at the Asylum Seekers and saw 2 Mexican Officials speaking to the group as a whole. I told Victor to walk over there so he can hear what the Officials are saying to the Asylum Seekers. He didn’t want to move. He told me go over there and listen. I reminded Victor that I Don’t Speak Spanish so me walking over there was pointless. The Official spoke for a minute or two at most then walked away from the group. Soon after the Official walked away All of the Asylum Seekers picked up their sleeping babies/toddlers/children and all of their belongings then as a Group started walking off the Bridge. I told Victor to stand up because the Protest was over. He told me to move to the side so they can all walk past us. Victor and I were the last 2 people off of the Bridge. We wanted to make sure everyone got off Safely.
Once we stepped off of the Bridge all of the Asylum Seekers turned left and walked back towards their tents/the Encampment. And, once the last person turned left I saw that Victor and I were alone on the street. I looked over to my right and saw no one in the toll booths, no Border Patrol agents standing guard next to the gates....there was not one single person around us. The Mexican Officials had cleared the space between the halfway mark on the Bridge allll the way to the Main Gate next to Garcia’s Resturant. I said without thinking “what in the f^*% is happening?” “Where is everybody?!?!” I got my phone out and started recording. The video is below. Once again Victor and I walked in silence towards my car which was parked across the street from Garcia’s. As we got closer I started seeing cars and people standing behind the Main Gate that leads into Matamoros. Mexican Military was standing in front everyone and keeping them behind the gate. It was a long line of people and cars backed up waiting to cross the Bridge.
As we got closer to the gate I saw the Military. I knew to put my phone down. Everyone behind that gate just watched as Victor and I walked towards them. I saw 2 people walk across the street behind the gate. And as we got closer I saw it was Teacher Elizabeth Despaigne and her boyfriend Dairon Elisondo. They were there for court. As most of you know the US has not opened back up the Tent Courts yet because of the Coronavirus BUT they are still making Asylum Seekers show up at 4:30am Mon-Fri to appear at a Port of entry on the US side to receive a piece of paper with their new court date on it. Now if an Asylum Seeker fails to show up to receive that piece of paper then he/she can be deported back to their home country. So you can imagine the panic Elizabeth was feeling.
It was around 4:45am which meant all of the Asylum Seekers were LATE for their hearing. Elizabeth didn’t know what to do. I showed her the video I had just taken of us walking up to them and how everything was blocked off. Dairon went to grab his phone so he could document that they tried to show up to Court but were unable to because the Bridge was completely blocked off. Once he reached his phone, A Mexican Official screamed out that the Bridge was open! At least one hundred Asylum Seekers started running, sprinting to the Bridge because they were already late for Court. The sight of seeing all of these Adults running to a Bridge so they won’t be late for a non-existent court date broke me.
I finally shed a tear and I felt as if I was going to start crying like a crazy person. Victor took my hand and said let’s go. We walked to the car in silence. I saw another Asylum Seeker fixing her hair while running to the Bridge. I cried another tear. I knew if I started crying I wouldn’t be able to stop so I decided not too. I wasn’t going to cry. I just wanted to go to sleep. I was tired. We made it back to the apartment and instantly went to sleep. While falling asleep I knew we would have to wake up in 3 hours because it was a School Day. School stops for no one or nothing.
And 3 hours later when we woke up and started our day; who knew in just 6 hours after we woke up on Tues. morning our World would be flipped on its head. I thought the Protest had drained all of my energy but I was wrong...I had more to give when we found out new information on Tues night about some of the Children Asylum Seekers inside the Encampment and their Parents. Victor and I are still reeling from yesterday evening’s events. The End. Maybe? If I have time tomorrow I will write Part 3.
The events from yesterday evening ....sigh....anyway Have a Nice Night Everyone! And Remember to Always Lead With Kindness ❤️