It Could Happen Here – CZM Rewind: Title 42, Pt 3: The Mutual Aid Response

Podcast: It Could Happen Here (Cool Zone Media/iHeartPodcasts)
Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of It Could Happen Here focuses on the grassroots mutual aid response in Jacumba, California, following the end of Title 42, a controversial border policy. Rather than government or large NGOs, it was the small desert community, local volunteers, and mutual aid groups who stepped up to meet the urgent needs of over a thousand migrants abandoned in harsh desert conditions. Through first-hand accounts and interviews, the episode chronicles the rapid, compassionate mobilization of ordinary people and highlights both the successes and emotional toll of their efforts.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Jacumba’s Transformation and Crisis

• Jacumba, a desert town with about 500 residents and a hot spring resort under renovation, became the site of a sudden humanitarian emergency after Title 42’s expiration.
• An ad-hoc migrant camp formed near town, growing to as large as 1,500 people (03:17).
• Local residents, business owners, and volunteers organized a supply and mutual aid hub almost overnight, operating out of a disused petrol station and hotel kitchens.
  • “When I’d arrived the night before, around 10pm, the eerie green and yellow lights reflecting from the roof had lit up the pallets of water like some kind of giant lava lamp.” (04:16)

2. First Impressions and Immediate Response

• Community members and hotel owners raised the alarm late one night as they realized the scale of the crisis.
• Volunteers were moved by the organization and care at the donation depot.
  • “I couldn’t believe seeing their donation depot in that old car wash... the level of love and compassion. It was an amazing opportunity... very humbling.” – Marissa (06:02)

3. The Realities of the Desert Camp

• Migrants faced exposure, temperature extremes, lack of food, water, and sanitation.
  • “It’s hot in the day and really cold at night because it’s the high desert. There can be gusts of wind that can just take over, get dust in your eyes, your hair, everything... you’re just filthy. Lack of food, I mean, there’s no resources.” – Natalie (07:54)
• Multiple interviewees emphasize how unprepared most asylum seekers were, having been "sold a bill of goods" by coyotes and with nowhere near adequate preparation for the ordeal.

4. Mobilizing Mutual Aid

• Much of the effort was coordinated via social media, especially Instagram, spreading rapidly through friend networks.
• People donated food, blankets, funds, and their time in a truly communal response.
  • “Immediately, even at 1 in the morning, I was getting messages... everyone just kind of rallied and started bringing supplies over, collecting money as well.” – Natalie (12:18)
  • “My Venmo was blowing up and there was a thousand dollars in my Venmo sent from my family members.” – Katie (13:05)
• Volunteers reflect on how direct action felt empowering and galvanized further participation.

5. The Absence of Government and Major NGOs

• No large NGOs, such as the Red Cross, were present – the Red Cross claimed they could not act unless called by Border Patrol, who said they were not allowed to call (16:15).
• Only one governmental presence mentioned: a staffer from Senator Steve Padilla's office, who advocated for volunteers and monitored migrant well-being during transfer and detention (17:00).
  • “She stood up to the Border Patrol and said, you know, said we’re allowed, we’re here on behalf of this senator.” – Katie (17:00)

6. Humanizing Migrants and Volunteers’ Emotional Reflections

• Volunteers are “not part of an NGO or a mutual aid collective... just people who wanted to help” (15:50).
• The emotional weight of the situation was enormous, especially for parents and those personally connected to migration stories.
  • “As a mom... it just really. It was emotional. It’s just like, I’m like, who’s. What child was playing with this, you know, here in this space, and you know that no child should be ever in... an encampment like that.” – Natalie (50:20)
• The importance of even small acts is strongly emphasized:
  • “A smile makes a difference. A feeling of like, I see you and you belong on this planet makes a difference.” – Katie (54:06)

7. San Ysidro and Mutual Aid Expansion

• Similar spontaneous mutual aid efforts sprang up in other areas, including San Ysidro.
• Volunteers organized supply runs from big-box stores, distributed everything from hygiene kits to toys for children stranded between border walls, and devised a chaotic but effective phone charging system to help migrants contact families.
  • “We had a system... a piece of tape on it with their name and give them a piece of tape... they’d give us the tape back and we’d match the names and the phone.” – Kaber (28:46)
• The joy of helping children, even with something as simple as crayons, was moving but heartbreaking.

8. Diversity of Volunteers and Personal Connections to Migration

• Many volunteers themselves came from immigrant backgrounds and saw helping as re-paying the kindness once shown to their own families.
  • “I’m a first generation Cambodian American... when my parents... fled, they went through this as well. Somebody somewhere provided the supports, the aid... for them to be able to make it to America.” – Lan Chai (32:05)
• Empathy and solidarity were grounding principles.

9. Opposition and Hostility

• Some locals were hostile or suspicious; volunteers reported confrontational encounters with anti-immigrant residents, right-wing media, and intimidation groups.
  • “When I was walking to my car, this man... started laying into, ‘I’ve had illegals... break into my house. Why are you supporting illegals?’” – Natalie (41:23)
  • “They would just kind of get out of their exceptionally large SUVs and just kind of, just kind of watch...” – Kaber (47:17)

10. Emotional Aftermath and Lessons Learned

• Volunteers described difficulty processing their experiences and the trauma of witnessing – and even briefly participating in – systemic crisis and state neglect.
• Many drew profound lessons about the potential for collective action and the need for real, not theoretical, compassion.
  • “You see an immediate impact, like I’m doing this and this is the result... Being able to see directly how that one person can impact.” – Natalie (20:10)
  • “If that community didn’t activate, there would have been a lot of dead people in the desert.” – Katie (52:51)
  • “When someone has nothing, what you have is more than what they can imagine.” – Katie (54:06)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On grassroots action and collective efficacy:
  “Hakumba is a town of 500 and they just fed thousands, housed thousands, clothed thousands, hugged and welcomed thousands of human beings. And those people in that town don’t have much excess and they made a difference.” – Katie (54:06)

• On the impact of small gestures:
  “Literally a smile makes a difference. A feeling of like, I see you and you belong on this planet makes a difference.” – Katie (54:06)

• On the broken system:
  “CBP’s own protocols and policies... [are] being detained with no. They’re not giving them food, they’re not giving them bathrooms, they’re not giving them basic, basic things that they need to survive. And so that’s why the community’s out here today to do that.” – Humayra Yousafi, Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (35:12)

• On the emotional toll and privilege:
  “Just how privileged we are. No one leaves our country because they want to. They leave because they have to.” – Natalie (51:22)

• On pushback from local residents:
  “Why are you supporting illegals? And I’m like, we’re trying to make sure that people don’t die. And he just kept going off on me. ....I just walked away.” – Natalie (41:23)

• On the value of mutual aid over waiting for institutions:
  “You don’t wait for someone like the government to show up and fix it because then people will die.” – Katie (52:51)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------| | 03:17 | Arrival of volunteers: setting and context | | 06:02 | First impressions at the supply depot (Marissa) | | 07:54 | Harsh conditions at the migrant camp (Natalie) | | 12:18 | Social media mobilization and donation efforts | | 16:15 | Absence of the Red Cross and major institutions | | 17:00 | Senator’s staffer intervenes with Border Patrol | | 20:10 | Empowerment from immediate impact (Natalie) | | 28:46 | Phone charging logistics at San Ysidro (Kaber) | | 32:05 | First-person immigrant perspective (Lan Chai) | | 41:23 | Hostility from some locals (Natalie) | | 47:17 | Intimidation from right-wing observers (Kaber) | | 50:20 | Emotional aftermath and reflection (Natalie) | | 54:06 | Closing reflections on empowerment (Katie) |

Final Reflections

This episode is a testament to the power and necessity of grassroots collective response in times of crisis, especially when official solutions are absent or actively harmful. Volunteers in small towns and urban centers alike bridged the gap for migrants and asylum seekers, demonstrating that meaningful aid, solidarity, and human connection do not require institutional permission—just willingness to act.

Key Takeaway: “If we all just do a little bit or what you can, then I think we would see a very large impact.... when someone has nothing, what you have is more than what they can imagine.” (Katie, 54:06)

For more on mutual aid organizations mentioned in this episode, check the show notes at coolzonemedia.com.