A citizen journalist who has been sounding the alarm on the border crisis joined Liz Collin this week on her podcast.
Auden Cabello shared some of the events he’s documented and his ongoing warning to cities in Minnesota and all across the country.
Collin and Cabello met last year after Alpha News visited the U.S.-Mexico border around the area of Eagle Pass, Texas.
“A year ago, we had just witnessed the 15,000 Haitians underneath our international bridge and I had predicted that, if nothing changes as far as policy, this is going to continue and it could be much worse. And that’s what I’ve been witnessing for the past year,” Cabello said.
He said the number of border encounters has “skyrocketed” on President Joe Biden’s watch, setting another all-time record in September with 260,000.
Auden’s reporting continues to focus on the dangers of making the trip to U.S. and the humanitarian crisis that he believes gets very little attention.
“That’s the difference in my case. I live on the Mexican side and I meet with the migrants. I talk with them, I walk with them, and I join them when they cross the river. I think that’s why I do what I do because there’s a missing gap with the media. They don’t cover that and I think I’m filing that gap in,” Cabello said.
Cabello’s work recently caught the attention of Elon Musk who visited the Eagle Pass area.
“Elon has been promoting citizen journalism on his new platform X. He came down to Eagle Pass to do some citizen journalism himself. So, I was very fortunate for him to somehow view my videos and get to share one. That was very encouraging. It seemed like I was reporting and my reporting was falling on deaf ears. You know, I tried to reach out to networks and sometimes they’ll use my footage to report what’s happening, but it’s a very limited perspective when they only use one video,” Cabello explained.
“They don’t go into detail of what’s happening on the Mexican side and in a sense, it was discouraging for me. You know, I’m out here all day in the sun, in the heat with the migrants, reporting what’s really happening and the media’s not picking up on it. So, for Elon Musk to repost one of my videos, of course, that’s very, very encouraging,” he added.
That video has more than 25 million views on X.
Cabello’s personal story also gives him a unique perspective. He is a U.S. citizen who married a woman from Mexico. Paperwork problems led to his wife’s green card being denied during COVID. Cabello believes in “doing things the legal way” so he’s been living in Mexico instead of walking over and living in the United States like so many others he documents each day.
“That’s the whole irony. Me as a U.S. citizen having to live in Mexico because I’m trying to get my wife and my family across legally. Yet at the same time, I’m documenting thousands come across illegally and get a free pass into the country. The latest status is that we’ve been approved. All our documentation has been submitted. So, we’re just waiting for her interview,” he said.
During their visit last year, Cabello mentioned to Collin that if something doesn’t change, the U.S. could collapse. As Cabello has seen several stories in the news, whether in the streets of New York or even closer to Minnesota, like a recent case in Bemidji, he still fears for the future.
“I knew things were going to get worse. You’re seeing it in Chicago, New York, other cities. And I think that’s only going to continue,” Cabello said. “I mean, when you have an open border and there’s thousands pouring through, you have no idea who they are and of course, if they can’t find a job, they don’t have any of the resources required, I mean, they’re going to go out and do whatever they can to survive. And that’s where it’s going to affect the communities all across the nation.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
