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.

By Chris Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

Photo:  Enrique Morones, shown at a Waterfront Park rally in 2018, reminds state officials: “By helping the undocumented community, you’re really helping yourself.” Photo by Chris Stone

April 19, 2020 (San Diego) - Among Gov. Gavin Newsom’s indicators to be used before stay-at-home orders can be eased (and the economy reopened) are testing and contact tracing.

But what if California’s 2 million undocumented immigrants are too fearful to be tested?

By Rachel Williams

Public protest planned Monday in San Diego

May 22, 2017 (San Diego) -- Last Thursday the Border Patrol detained college student Claudia Rueda from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, as she moved her mother’s car for street cleaning. Agents tried to enter the family home, but they were denied access without a warrant. Rueda, a “dreamer” who came to America as a minor, was eventually taken to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Chula Vista.

East County News Service

April 2, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has unveiled a new webpage making available to the public data on apprehensions, admissibility, recidivism, and arrests of “criminal aliens” at the border. Information on the page will be expanded to include seizures of drugs, currency, and prohibited agriculture products in the coming months.

East County News Service

January 18, 2017 (San Diego) — In mid-October, the Border Patrol launched Task Force Otay, focused on targeting criminal organizations that exploit the vast network of human smuggling routes on Otay Mountain. Since the onset of Task Force Otay on October 16, Border Patrol agents arrested more than 1,000 people who illegally entered the U.S. on Otay Mountain. 

By Miriam Raftery

December 5, 2016 (Sacramento) — President-Elect Donald Trump has threatened to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. But now California officials are fighting back.

This week, two bills have been introduced in the California Legislature aimed at trying to protect immigrants.

East County News Service

File photo by Karl W. Hoffman

February 18, 2015 (San Diego)—A ruling by a Texas judge that halts President Obama’s executive orders to protect many undocumented immigrants from being deported will directly impact half of the 181,000 undocumented immigrants living in San Diego County, according to the Migration Policy Institute.  The Institute, which is based in Washington D.C., estimates that 91,000 San Diegans would have been eligible to apply for protection from deportation.

Critics dispute administration figures

By Miriam Raftery

January 26, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – The Obama administration is on track to deport over 2 million people, according to a new report from the University of California-Merced.  That’s about the same number deported under the Bush administration, but more than the U.S. deported during over a century from the late 1890s to the late 1990s.

On average, those deported had lived in the U.S. for 14 years, leading to concerns that the Criminal Alien Program is tearing apart families.  A quarter of all people deported since mid-2010 are parents with children in the U.S., including parents of American citizens, the report concludes.