{"id":14295,"date":"2025-03-06T02:50:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14295"},"modified":"2025-03-06T02:50:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:50:49","slug":"the-plight-of-migrants-is-deeply-misunderstood-can-a-video-game-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14295","title":{"rendered":"The Plight of Migrants Is Deeply Misunderstood. Can a Video Game Help?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Over the past<\/span> year, Karla Reyes and her team at Anima Interactive have visited the US-Mexico border twice to interview migrants and humanitarians. Once a month, Reyes interviews migrants remotely via video calls. She\u2019s spoken to dozens. They come from Latin America, but also South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, each with a shared goal: to cross into the US in search of safety.<\/p>\n

In January, hours after President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration<\/a>, thousands of migrants suddenly received notice that their appointments with US Customs and Border Protection\u2014the agency that would help them gain asylum\u2014had been canceled<\/a>. The administration shut down<\/a> the CBP One app that allows migrants to apply for asylum. It was the first of many roadblocks the new administration would erect in front of those seeking to immigrate to America.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a moment’s notice, the course of their lives has been altered again,\u201d Reyes says. \u201cThese are people who have been waiting as long as years.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Reyes, it only reinforced the sense of urgency around her team\u2019s current project: a crowdfunded game called Take Us North<\/em><\/a> about migrants making the journey across the border. \u201cEven though the game isn’t released yet, we are thinking critically about how we can still continue to share information, tackle disinformation, and share resources with our community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest misconceptions about migrants, Reyes says\u2014one she hopes the game will help correct\u2014is the story of why they leave their homes for the US. \u201cThe general public often gets this narrative that migrants are mostly trying to come to the US purely for economic opportunity,\u201d she says. \u201cThe reality is that the majority of the migrants that I’ve interviewed do not want to leave their homes. Most of them are fleeing persecution and violence. They’re leaving behind everything that they love, but they don’t have another choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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