One day after a county-run welcome center closed down far earlier than anticipated due to lack of funds, border agencies dropped hundreds of people seeking asylum on the streets of San Diego without resources, further straining the resources of volunteer-run groups currently on-site to try to help them.
Videos show groups of people at the Iris Transit Center in San Ysidro, just north of the international border, while volunteers give them directions to bus stops and airports. Iris Transit Center does not offer shelter, restrooms, benches, or internet access.
Groups of people have been dropped on San Diego’s streets since last September, but until this week they have been assisted by the migrant welcome center, which announced last week that its “finite resources have been stretched to the limit” amid a significant increase in migrant arrivals in recent weeks.
The welcome center’s closure has forced immigration advocacy organizations and other groups to further stretch their resources in order to be able to help, said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director and co-founder of the Immigration Defenders Law Center.
“We learned a week ago that the welcome center that was funded by the county would be closing prematurely,” she said. “We anticipated it would stay open much longer, and it should have.”
Toczylowski says that the state and local governments need to focus on creating a welcoming infrastructure for people coming to the United States.
“What we’re seeing is community stepping up where the federal government has failed to do so,” she said.
Many of the people who have been dropped off on the streets of San Diego are on their way to other parts of the country, she said. “The people we’re helping are so resourceful. They have made it this far, they are the survivors, they are so strong and resilient… and all they need is for people to give them a little bit of help.”
“They really just need us to meet them with kindness and information to get them to where they’re going.”
Anyone interested in assisting local volunteer groups on site can donate to ImmDef, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, Jewish Family Service of San Diego, Al Otro Lado, or the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, or they can check social media for volunteer opportunities.