Temporary Migrant Welcome Center in San Diego at Risk of Early Closure Due to Exhausted Resources
The temporary migrant welcome center in San Diego, California, may be forced to close its doors earlier than expected due to the exhaustion of resources allocated for the facility. The center, which has been providing essential services to thousands of people arriving in the region, could close a month earlier than planned due to the large number of immigrants passing through the facility.
Kathie Lembo, president of SBCS, the nonprofit organization that manages the center, stated, “As the number of migrants arriving at the center has increased significantly in recent weeks, our finite resources have been stretched to the limit.”
San Diego had allocated 6 million dollars to support the growing number of migrants arriving at the border between the United States and Mexico and who have been released by Border Patrol into the community. It is estimated that since September, about 100 thousand immigrants have arrived in the region, many of them requesting asylum.
The funds have helped welcome centers like the one in San Diego to offer services such as transportation, food, and internet to immigrants arriving in the region. However, the funding for these locations was expected to last until the end of March.
Lembo expressed, “When we accepted the challenge of this work in October of last year, we knew two things: that it spoke to the heart of our mission and that it was for a limited time. We will continue to work with the county and our partners in hopes of identifying additional resources to keep the center open, preventing hundreds of people every day from being stranded in San Diego without the support they need to continue their journey.”
The early closure of the welcome centers now puts their administrators in a dilemma, as they are faced with the problem of knowing what to do with migrants who arrive and if they will end up on the streets of San Diego. Border Patrol in the San Diego sector detained 24,709 migrants in January, while last December the number was 34,372.
Jim Desmond, county board supervisor, demanded the intervention of the federal government due to the increase in immigrants arriving in the region. He highlighted the serious problem of homeless people in San Diego that could increase with the arrival of thousands of immigrants and the disappearance of welcome centers.
The closure of the welcome center and the potential abandonment of migrants in San Diego raises concerns about how these populations will be supported and cared for in the future. This ongoing issue requires immediate attention and action from federal authorities to address the needs of both migrants and the local community.