The Epoch Times website is reporting that a Spanish-language publication of the Red Cross has surfaced entitled, “Messages of Self-Help for Migrants.” The pamphlet, a copy of which had evidently fallen from an illegal migrant’s backpack as he trespassed recently across a Texas rancher’s land, is a how-to guide to sneaking into the United States.
“It’s practically a road map or a TripTech for an illegal migrant,” Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies told The Times. “It’s one thing to give out water to migrants. It’s quite another thing to help them migrate illegally—and breach the sovereignty of a border. [The pamphlet is] enticing criminal behavior that is also very, very dangerous and illegal.”
On one side, the publication provides a map indicating transport routes from Panama to the United States, showing in detail where migrants can find shelter or get medical help. The other side lists helpful tips in Spanish for the illegal migrant about such matters as traveling safely through wilderness and dealing with authorities. For example:
- “It’s always safer to travel in a group, especially for women.”
- Stay in contact with relatives and friends, “especially before crossing the border.”
- Avoid getting on or off a train when it’s moving or wet, but “if you do get off a train when it’s moving, keep running so that others don’t fall on top of you.”
- “Don’t hide in vehicles or in small places where you might suffocate, drown, or get sick. Be sure you have enough space to breathe.”
Asked via email about the propriety of issuing assistance for this kind of illegal behavior, a spokesman for the Red Cross defended their publication on humanitarian grounds:
As an impartial, neutral and independent organization, our actions are focused on addressing the humanitarian needs of migrants to ensure they are treated with dignity, both in their countries of origin, transit and destination, and regardless of their immigration status.
The spokesman added that yes, they do “inform [migrants] of risks they’re undertaking while using the migration route.”
For more, see The Epoch Times.