'It Was All a Hoax': Migrant Deceived by DeSantis Speaks

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/migrant-to-marthas-vineyard-criticizes-desantis-for-hoax.html


Why I left is no big secret. No one’s making any money in Venezuela. There isn’t enough food. It’s very difficult to care for your children. There are kidnappings, extortion. Someone tried to kill me.

I left my two kids, my wife, my aunts, and my grandmother behind. I decided to leave June 15. I walked until I reached the border with Colombia. It took me two months and 15 days. I rode mules, asked truck drivers for rides, anything to move forward.

In Colombia, I paid a boat $50 to drop me off in the Darién jungle, and there I started my journey toward Panama, walking. We just had to walk and walk and walk. I had three changes of clothes when I started, but I left the jungle with only one and no shoes. Eventually I got to Panama and then Costa Rica, where my brother lives. He helped me get into Nicaragua and then on to Honduras and Guatemala. The journey was hard, but it was also so beautiful and new to me. When you walk through those places, they are gorgeous. There are lots of old buildings, lots of tourists.

When I reached Mexico, I turned myself in to the immigration authorities in Chiapas. They gave me a permit to leave Mexico in 20 days to the border of my choice. I didn’t know that Mexico was so big. The countries I had passed through were nothing; Mexico was seven times bigger than all of them. It took me 12 days of walking to get through Mexico to the border with the United States. It was August 18.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. An enduring spirit.

Great read.

[brush]

2. What a story. Thanks for posting. You can't help but root for this guy.

I hope he does ok here in the US.

This is typical republican cruelty. Desantis should be held accountable for this hoax. He doesn't dare alienate the Hispanic community in Florida so kidnaps innocent victims in Texas to make it seem like he's doing something about immigration. What a joke.

[gratuitous]

3. And the people who would abuse and deceive this asylum seeker

The same people who defraud this man were wailing about how unfair and restrictive it was to wear an N95 mask during the pandemic. If they had to go through a hundredth of what he did to get to Texas, they would never have made it.