TRANSCRIPT
Driving on rough dirt tracks in the dark, the journey to the U-S border with Mexico is not an easy one.
But Randy Mayer knows these desert trails by heart.
He’s a local pastor who’s been providing aid to migrants for 25 years.
“They’re pretty fearful because they’ve only been in the United States for a few hours and they haven’t met anybody, and they’ve heard some people are good, some people are bad, so we try to help them understand that we’re there, we have food, we’re just there to support them and help them feel comfortable and that you know, just one human being to another treating them with dignity.”
When we arrive at a crossing point, just a few metres from the border, it’s clear his help is needed today.
“Hola, como esta? There are quite a few.”
There are 35 people here, sitting around a campfire.
Some are shivering under blankets left by humanitarian charities.
They’re hungry, cold and tired, having crossed into the United States in the dead of night.
Most are from Mexico, Guatemala.
There are women and several young children, exhausted from their journey.
“Most of them have probably been under the control of the cartels for 5 or 6 days.”
There are also single men from further abroad, who flew into Latin America determined to make it to the U-S.
Reporter “Where are you all from?"
"Me, I'm from Albania…"
Reporter: "From Albania? Ok."
"India."
Reporter: "Albania, India."
"India."
Reporter: "Yeah, India as well."
Reporter: "How do you feel now?"
"Now I’m so happy. If you see the border, I’m so happy. Because they have some mafia too, Mexico."
Reporter: "The cartels?"
"(they) Take money, police everything.”
No-one will attempt to flee; the desert is deadly without proper provisions.
Most will apply for asylum.
As the sun appears above the mountain peaks, the authorities arrive.
A year ago, Randy would often find two or three hundred migrants here each morning.
Numbers have dropped significantly since Joe Biden limited asylum applications.
Border control encounters with migrants in September were 75 per cent lower than the same time last year.
But according to Donald Trump, the situation is spiralling, and Kamala Harris is responsible.
“This border is ten times, 15 times worse than it was in 2016, as you know.”
That’s news to the people of Nogales.
It’s right on the border, so close you can see people in Mexico waiting to catch the bus through the enormous metal fence which separates Nogales U-S-A from Nogales, Mexico.
It’s quiet, and largely trouble free, according to locals like retired teacher, Sam.
She’s furious when she hears former President Trump talk about border communities as hellholes, places of chaos and carnage.
“Of course he’s going to blow everything up. You see this? Do you see people jumping the fence going crazy? Of course not. This is a very tranquil community. We go back and forth into Mexico. There is no problem. Come down here, come and visit us, you’ll see, people are friendly they’re not like the media points it out to be you know.”
Trump supporters would disagree.
An hour away, in the city of Tucson, Vice-Presidential Candidate J-D Vance is holding a rally, painting a picture of a region in crisis.
“You know what Donald Trump thinks we ought to do? Build that wall, finish that wall and send illegal aliens back home, not to the United States of America.”
‘Build the wall’ and ‘send them back’ are slogans that play well here.
Susan Smith is a Trump supporter.
Reporter: “In Australia the main thing we hear from the campaign is about the language and rhetoric that Donald Trump is using… eating the dogs, eating the cats, talking about migrants, does that concern you?"
Smith: "So what, not a bit. I think it’s funny I love it."
Reporter: "You don’t think it’s dehumanising at all?"
Smith: "No, no. I think he tells it like it is and that’s what I like about him.”]]
It’s an attitude volunteers like Randy find difficult to comprehend.
“Both political parties are trying to listen to middle America and middle America doesn’t know what’s happening. They’ve probably never met a migrant, they’ve probably never met someone whose father has been killed before their eyes and they’re fleeing for safety. The reality is, this is... A wall’s not going to resolve this.”
The last of the migrants are taken for processing, departing in the back of a border patrol pick-up truck.
More will arrive tomorrow, a never ending game of cat and mouse, for which no administration has found a solution.
