SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KABC) — While thousands of people seeking asylum in the United States are waiting in shelters in Mexico, hundreds who have already been given the opportunity to start that process through the CBP One app have found a safe landing place at the San Diego Rapid Response Network migrant shelters.
“It’s those moments when you see the tears of joy and hear the screams of relief,” said Kate Clark, senior director of immigration services at Jewish Family Service of San Diego.
Refuge from political persecution
This week Eyewitness News met with Jessica and Sandri, who are fleeing political persecution in Venezuela.
Jessica described the long and dangerous journey she and her two girls, ages 8 and 14, took them through several countries and through a dangerous area of rainforest known as the Darien Gap.
As humanitarian groups and organizations continue to help people seeking asylum in the United States, ABC7’s Anabel Munoz takes us inside a San Diego shelter that’s welcoming people fleeing political persecution.
“We’re not doing it for fun,” she told ABC7.
She wants people to know that she didn’t undertake the journey simply because she was scared of what her daughters’ futures would be if she were jailed for her political activism.
Monica Langarica of the UCLA School of Law’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) highlights the complexity of global migration patterns.
“They are impacted by political violence abroad, natural disasters, the expansion of nefarious organizations and criminal gangs around the world,” she explained.
People from Mexico were the top nationality encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection from October through January in fiscal year 2024. An encounter is when U.S. authorities encounter a non-citizen attempting to cross the southwest border without authorization.
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Venezuela is near the top of the list, along with Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and Peru.
It is deeply unfair and inequitable to condition an asylum claim in the United States on this highly complex field of data.
Monica Langarica, Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP)
President Joe Biden’s new executive order limiting asylum attempts between ports of entry hinges on the average daily number of such contacts.
“It is extremely unjust and unfair to condition an asylum claim in the United States on this very complex area of data,” Langarica said.
Monthly encounters along the southwest border are down slightly after reaching nearly 190,000 in February. The monthly total this year is lower than the high seen in December 2023, when CBP officers confirmed nearly 302,000 encounters. About 17% of encounters on the southwest border in December occurred at the San Diego port of entry. April’s encounters totaled 179,725, with 32% of those occurring in San Diego.
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Expanding humanitarian efforts
The San Diego Rapid Response Network migrant shelter has served roughly 210,000 people over the past five and a half years.
“Ninety-eight percent of our guests are leaving San Diego County to be with loved ones and family in other parts of the United States,” Clark said.
Jewish Family Services of San Diego and CILP also lead advocacy efforts, raising awareness about the separation of families during immigration processing and calling for shorter detention times for pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding people.
While Biden’s new executive order goes into effect and limits asylum between ports of entry, the CBP One app, which has been heavily criticized for its inaccessibility, remains a way for migrants and refugees to seek asylum.
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