Matt Bush, FISM News
The American Red Cross has come under fire again, this time for creating packets stamped with their logo that include maps and guides for migrants wishing to make the dangerous journey to and across the Mexico-U.S. border.
These packets, obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, show a list of resources that include hotels, clinics, and shelters where migrants can find help in Central America and Mexico. They also have lines leading to U.S. cities along the border where migrants can hope to find refuge.
Going even a step further from providing tips and support for the journey, the packet also provides a “self-care” guide. According to The Political Insider, these self-care guides include “instructions and advice on how to survive the desert and various diseases one is most likely to contract, as well as how to ‘safely jump on trains’ and ‘how to obtain contraceptives.’”
Any American nonprofit, like the Red Cross, should be cautioning migrants from making the treacherous trip to the U.S. border and then facing more danger attempting to cross into America. According to the United Nations, almost 5,000 people died from 2014 to 2022 trying to enter America illegally. With border crossings up considerably so far this year, that death rate will inevitably rise.
Even the fact that the Red Cross packet encourages women to bring contraceptives and leaves out other potentially life-saving medicines is telling of the danger migrants face.
“They didn’t tell asthmatics to bring their inhalers. They didn’t tell diabetics to bring their diabetes medicine, but they did tell the women to bring contraceptives because they know that women are being raped,” Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb told Fox News.
On top of the potential danger, the attempt by the Red Cross to make illegal border crossings easier comes at a time when the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have been stretched to a breaking point. The number of encounters with illegal migrants at the southern border went from just over 400,000 in 2020 to more than 1.6 million in 2021 and almost 2.3 million in 2022.
The American Red Cross is a member of the board of FEMA, receiving $350 million from the Department of Homeland Security in February 2023 alone. Rather than helping those migrants who were stopped illegally or encouraging them to stay away from the border altogether, the American Red Cross is helping to facilitate larger numbers of illegal crossings, and they are collecting millions in taxpayer funds while they do it.
The Red Cross’s stance was summed up by one of their representatives like this: “Every day around the world, people make the difficult decision to leave their homes and their counties in pursuit of a safer place to live and hope for a better future. Families migrate for different reasons, such as conflict, violence, natural disasters, or other reasons. The international Committee of the Red Cross, as part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, does not prevent nor does it encourage migration. We aim to help prevent and mitigate the humanitarian consequences that migration can bring – including separation and loss of family contacts, disappearances, serious medical issues and even death.”
Just like when the Red Cross collected $500 million in Haiti relief, when Americans pledged $1.85 billion to Katrina relief, or the $900 million pledged after the tsunami hit southeast Asia, Americans are left questioning what the Red Cross does with the incredible financial resources they are given each year.