San Diego County in California is getting flooded with hundreds of asylum-seeking immigrants, and according to the county’s supervisor, the system is “strained.”
“We are expecting 235 more to be dropped at transit stations today,” County Supervisor Jim Desmond tweeted on Tuesday. “That will run the total of 1,071 people who have been dropped off in the past 4 days. Our system is strained, and this is simply unsustainable.”
New sections of the steel bollard-style border wall, comprising primary and secondary barriers, stands along the US-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana (L) during a tour with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 10, 2021 in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego County, California. – Few issues have as long a history of bedeviling both Democrats and Republicans as immigration and asylum on the approximately 2,000-mile (3,000-kilometer) US-Mexico frontier.
(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Over the past week, Desmond has been sounding the alarm after finding out on Dec. 23 that nearly 200 asylum-seekers would be dropped off on the streets of San Diego County, in places like transit centers in the City of San Diego, Oceanside and El Cajon.
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He said in a statement that the federal government “is failing its obligation to protect the people of San Diego County,” adding that the system is broken, and the government was putting the region at risk.
“If the Federal Government wants to process asylum seekers, they must provide adequate resources to manage people entering our region,” Desmond said. “We already have a severe homeless problem in San Diego County and dropping nearly 200 people onto our streets will only perpetuate the issue.”
Migrants wait to cross the U.S.-Mexico border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, next to U.S. Border Patrol vehicles in El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending a Trump-era policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.
(AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)
In just four days, nearly 850 migrants were dropped off in San Diego County, which reportedly only has about 600 beds to offer the homeless population.
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On Tuesday, another 235 migrants were expected to arrive, bringing the total number of migrants brought to the region to 1,071.
“This is not humane. This is not compassionate,” Desmond tweeted. “The Federal Government is using people as political pawns while straining our resources in San Diego County.”
After the Supreme Court determined Title 42 would remain in place to allow for legal challenges to work their way out, Desmond responded with relief and concern.
“In light of what we are seeing in San Diego County over the past week, I’m glad to see the Supreme Court has kept Title 42 for now,” he said. “Our immigration system is broken and it’s on full display here but keeping Title 42 will help a bit.”
