California Immigration: Day 2

Day 2 by Maria and Lakelyn:

Today Wednesday March 9th in the Immigration project we woke up in Calexico CA. We went for some breakfast and headed over to Slab city. There we talked to Diana in Salvation mountain, and she talked to us about her perspective about being close to the border and way of living. She stopped at Slab city on her way to SD and she felt a urge to stay at Slab, She taught how in Slab everyone is welcomed no matter their background. Afterwards we moved to East Jesus where we saw many different interactive art pieces. When there, we met a person named Wizard who had been living there for about 12 years. What we took away from him was acknowledging gratitude. Later on we headed back to Calexico to meet with Ismael, part of a non government organization for betterment of Calexico. We helped restock a community fridge for people to treat themselves to food for free. Next we went to meet up with Robert who told us about how it is living in a border city. He introduced us to the mayor of el Centro Tomas Olivia and the mayor of Calexico Xavier Moreno. They talked to us about the issues that have to be faced every day living so close to the border. We learned from their perspectives how they try their best to advocate for immigrants treating them humanly. We reflected on how does law apply for those who enforce the law, taking as example border patrol. We continued that conversation over dinner brought over from Mexicali with Raul, Xavier and Robert.