By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of ECM news partner KGTV 10 News.

February 25, 2024 (San Diego) – Bipartisan calls for federal help are escalating after closure of a local migrant welcoming center due to lack of funds amid an unprecedented surge in migrants from around the world.

The migrant center run by SBCS (formerly known as South Bay Community Center) closed its doors Thursday night.  Kathie Lembo, the nonprofit’s president and CEO, stated,  “As the number of migrants arriving at the center has increased significantly over the last few weeks, our finite resources have been stretched to the limit.”

San Diego County had allocated $6 million to fund the welcome center as an alternative to Border Patrol dropping off massive numbers of migrants at transit centers. The welcome center had provided temporary shelter, food, Wifi connections, and travel information for the vast majority of migrants seeking to rejoin family members elsewhere in the United States. The funds were expected to last until March.

But with more than 100,000 migrants arriving in our region since September, the center ran out of funds.  Now Border Patrol, which lacks sufficient facilities to detain migrants, is once again dropping many of them off at transit centers to fend for themselves, or accept help from volunteers.

By Rebecca Person

photos By Pete Cerep

September15,2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Just when a recent crisis of hundreds of stranded undocumented people seemed to abate, local residents of San Diego County border town Jacumba Hot Springs are reporting new waves of migrants seen on foot emerging from the rugged desert here.

In recent weeks, the numbers and frequency of sightings have increased from occasional to now several groups are observed each week. The latest group on September 13 numbered 62 people who scurried over a remote desert trail and clustered in the shade of tamarisk trees beside Old Highway 80 in Jacumba.

Photos of the travelers reveal them to be mostly young men, possibly Asian, though a few women and children were seen. By contrast, most of the May migrants said they were from Haiti, Turkey, Brazil or Guatemala, according to residents who brought them water and survival supplies.

Those pictured in photos in this article were loaded into vans late in the day on  Sept. 13 to be transported to their next destination under the apparent supervision of Border Patrol, witnesses told  ECM.