On his way to the U.S.-Mexico border, Abdou Khan, an asylum seeker from Gambia, heard on the news about a center in San Diego County that provides assistance to recently arrived migrants. On Friday, after being processed and released by the U.S. Border Patrol, he thought he would be sent there.
Instead, he learned that the center was now closed.
“I thought we would go to the center and they would help us with a bus or plane ticket,” he said.
Khan was one of hundreds of migrants dropped off in buses at a public transit station by the federal agency. That practice resumed Friday morning after a county-funded migrant welcome center closed the night before for lack of funds.
Ismael Bah, left, and Abdou Khan try to connect to free wifi at San Diego International Airport after being released from Border Patrol earlier in the day. Khan left his country of Gambia seeking safety and plans to fly to Minnesota where he has a brother.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
SBCS, the nonprofit that operated the site, announced over the weekend that the center’s “finite resources have been stretched to the limit” amid a significant increase in migrant arrivals in recent weeks. Officials said that this week alone the center received around 700 to 900 people per day.
The center provided services to more than 81,000 migrants since October.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday that it would continue to “ surge personnel, transportation, processing, and humanitarian resources to the most active and arduous areas throughout San Diego’s border region where migrants are callously placed by smuggling organizations.”
“CBP coordinates to the fullest extent possible with state, local, and non-governmental partners to ensure the safe and orderly onward movement of migrants when they are released from our custody following screening and vetting as part of their immigration proceedings. This situation is the latest example of the pressing need for Congress to provide additional resources and take legislative action to fix our outdated immigration laws,” the agency added in a statement.
On Friday, about two dozen volunteers from at least 10 local organizations spread out between transit stations and the airport to assist migrants. They waited on the sidewalk of the Iris Avenue Transit Center to be ready to help migrants as soon as they got off buses.
Migrants are dropped off at the Iris Avenue Transit Center by Border Patrol agents. They were later taken to Old Town Transit Center by a nonprofit group.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“Those who speak Spanish, this way,” Ruth Méndez, a volunteer with Free Them All Coalition, said over a loudspeaker. While most surrounded her, there were also other volunteers to assist those who spoke Portuguese or French, or used translation apps for other languages.
“Bienvenidos,” Méndez said in Spanish. “You are located in San Diego, California.”
Méndez said that migrants typically arrive disoriented and ask where they are to let their relatives know.
“What we are doing is just welcoming them, letting them know that they are free to go wherever they need to be, but that we want to make sure that they are doing it safely,” she explained.
Volunteers offered migrants the option of taking a rented bus for free to the Old Town Transit Center, where another group of volunteers was waiting to direct them to a free shuttle to the airport. They also told them that they could take the trolley, a bus or a taxi on their own.
It was common to see migrants eager to get Wi-Fi access to let their loved ones know they were okay or to buy a plane ticket to their final destination. Men and women from Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Dominican Republic and China, among others, were seen on their way to the airport.
Many of them are also grateful that there are volunteers who speak their language, as they have many questions.
“It makes all the difference,” said Jorge Jiménez, a migrant from Colombia, as he waited for a shuttle to the airport. “You come here not knowing the language, or where you are or where to go.” Jiménez reached out to family members, who bought him a plane ticket to Seattle.
At the airport migrants were seen charging cellphones and calling relatives to buy them a ticket. Those who were able to do so helped other migrants struggling to get a connection to buy their ticket on their own. On previous occasions, migrants have waited for hours or even slept at the airport.
A spokesperson with the San Diego International Airport said it was notified by SBCS about the closure of the center.
“We have and will continue to coordinate with migrant-serving volunteer groups and nonprofit organizations as they help their clients navigate the airport. We support the county’s efforts to secure additional funding from federal and other sources to address the needs of migrants,” the airport said in a statement.
“Our best advice right now is that it’s important that anyone planning to travel through the airport have a ticket prior to arriving at the airport. The airport is very busy and not an ideal place for unticketed travelers. It’s also ideal if ticketed travelers are dropped off no earlier than eight hours ahead of their flights.”
Migrants plan their next move at the San Diego International Airport after being released by Border Patrol agents earlier in the day.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
San Diego County allocated $6 million to open the temporary center and assist migrants — many of them asylum seekers — who have been arriving at the border and been released by Border Patrol into the community. The center provided supportive services such as food, Wi-Fi and travel assistance to their final destination.
It was initially expected that the funds would run out next month. The monthly cost of operations, estimated initially at $1 million, is now $1.5 million amid a significant increase in the number of migrants, said Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas this week.
Last week, Vargas reached out to President Joe Biden seeking help.
“In light of the numerous natural disasters impacting our region, it is unsustainable for the County to continue its efforts to aid in addressing and ameliorating this persistent humanitarian need and crisis,” reads her letter sent on Feb. 16.
Nonprofit organizations that responded to the need to support migrants on Friday are now demanding answers about the handling of the funds.
“We are back at the street-release sites today as a result of $6 million of funding that was supposed to last through the end of March being exhausted and we were not given very much notice, and there’s been no transition plan,” said Meghan Zavala, data and policy analyst with the legal services organization Al Otro Lado.
She said she hopes that future funding will be allocated in a sustainable plan. But in the meantime, she said the organization is stepping up to help.
“We’re here today to try to assist as best we can, even though we have very little resources and no support from any level of government,” she said.
SBCS, formerly known as South Bay Community Services, is expected to provide a detailed report of expenses to the county in the next week to 10 days.
Pedro Ríos, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S.-Mexico Border Program, said that recognizing the situation, local groups started planning how to assist immediately. He agreed that ongoing funding will be needed to provide the much-needed services.
“This will be something that we are going to see on a daily basis now,” he said.
