US Border Patrol Has Released Thousands of Migrants on San Diego’s Streets, Taxing Charities

Over five years, the largest U.S. city on the Mexican border developed a well-oiled system to shelter asylum-seekers.

That system is being tested like never before as U.S. Customs and Border Protection releases migrants to the streets of California’s second-largest city because shelters are full. Since Sept. 13, about 13,000 have been dropped at transit stations with notices to appear in immigration court at their final destinations in the U.S., with about 500 more arriving daily.

Migrant aid groups blame a mix of circumstances for the shelter crunch: reduced government funding; CBP’s practice of sending migrants from Texas and Arizona to be processed in San Diego; and a surge in illegal crossings. Last week, President Joe Biden’s administration advanced plans for a border wall in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and said it would resume deportation flights to Venezuela.

Before they are released in San Diego, some migrants being dropped off have been waiting between a double-layer border wall or camping under Border Patrol watch in remote mountains east of the city. CBP closed a major pedestrian border crossing from Tijuana, Mexico, on Sept. 14 and assigned more officials to processing migrants.

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Similar to other U.S. border cities, about 95% of migrants in San Diego quickly move to other parts of the country. That’s a sharp contrast to cities far from the border, such as New York and Chicago. But the constant churn of exhausted, disoriented migrants from more than 100 countries has created other strains that the San Diego County government calls “an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.”

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Shelters still accommodate families with young children, members of the LGBTQ+ community, the elderly and medically frail. The drop-offs are largely for single adults.

Since 2018, Jewish Family Service of San Diego and Catholic Charities together have helped more than 430,000 migrants in the region.

But Catholic Charities of San Diego recently halved capacity at the two hotels where it houses migrants to about 800 people, who stay an average of less than two days, said CEO Vino Pajanor. {snip}

Jewish Family Service has maintained shelter capacity at about 950 at a hotel and another large facility.

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