SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Breitbart Texas heads west to what has become the busiest border crossing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The San Diego area has recently become the busiest border patrol area for the entry of migrants and the release of many migrants seeking asylum and remaining in the country.
San Diego may remain a hotspot for the foreseeable future as an election-year maneuver orchestrated between the Biden administration and Mexico’s AMLO government to temporarily reduce checkpoints along the southwest border continues to unfold. be.
Mexican authorities continue to patrol commonly used rail lines and public transportation hubs during the election period to reduce uncontrolled border surveillance and media coverage, but San Diego remains open for now. It remains as it is. As in other areas of the eastern border, the Mexican government’s attempts to rewind traffic are here, as Breitbart Texas posted in multiple locations within the busiest border region during April. But it was observed.
In Jacumba, California, a town in eastern San Diego County that was once a busy migrant hub, the encampment, usually bustling with newly arrived migrants, was largely empty and deserted. Just south of Jacumba, along the Mexican side of Trump’s border wall, Breitbart Texas spoke with Guardia Nacional soldiers camped in makeshift facilities at the base of the border wall. Mexican soldiers have been on the ground since February and have been successful in reducing much of the migrant crossings in the area.
Soldiers told Breitbart Texas that patrolling the rugged mountains is extremely difficult. “It takes more than an hour and a half to climb to the top of this mountain here and we have to walk for miles along this area. It’s impossible,” one soldier said in Spanish.
In a sign of the difficulty in completely stopping the crossing, one group of nearly a dozen migrants slipped past a Mexican military camp. The group arrived on Interstate 8 near Incopa Desert Tower on Sunday, headed for a gathering point set up by the Border Patrol to receive migrants.
Once occupied by migrants waiting for days to be transferred to fortified facilities, where they would be formally processed by the Border Patrol, the area is now deserted. In nearby Jacumba, another camp west of the small community is empty of the hundreds of migrants who normally wait to be removed from the border because of Mexican military patrols south.
Meanwhile, migrant traffic is now shifting to mainland San Diego, making it the busiest crossing point for migrants along the southwest border, a position the San Diego Border Patrol hasn’t held in decades. Customs and Border Protection officials told Breitbart that nearly 1,000 migrants are being released into the community each day.
Breitbart Texas witnessed many of the migrants being released by the Border Patrol at the Iris Avenue Trolley Station near Otay Mesa, near the heart of downtown San Diego. Immigrants are dropped off in the area to make it easier for them to use public transportation to reach other parts of the United States. Migrants who used the facility on Monday included those from the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Venezuela and many other countries around the world.
Since October, more than 27,000 migrants have been apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into San Diego from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), according to Customs and Border Protection. In this sector, more than 3,000 Chinese immigrants entered San Diego in April alone.
Several local politicians, including Mayor Bill Wells near El Cajon, California, have expressed concern about the increasing number of immigrants being released in their communities. Wells posted a number of posts on X (formerly Twitter) noting the increase in migrant crossings and highlighting the presence of migrants staying for several days at San Diego International Airport.
According to Customs and Border Protection, 37,320 immigrants were apprehended by Border Patrol agents in the San Diego area in April. This total is an increase of more than 300 percent from the influx of 8,510 immigrants into the sector in December 2020 under the Trump administration. Despite the shift in immigration transit westward, the number of immigrants apprehended in 2024 is almost unchanged from 2023.
More than 1,171,000 immigrants have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents since October, according to Customs and Border Protection. Compared to the approximately 1,254,000 people apprehended during the same period in 2023, the number of migrant crossings has decreased by only 7% since the beginning of the year.
Adding to the nearly 2,400 daily migrants admitted to U.S. land ports and airports under the Biden administration’s “legal channels” using CBP-One applications, nearly 1.7 million migrants have been admitted to U.S. land ports and airports since October. of immigrants are now entering the United States seeking asylum. Customs and Border Protection officials say more than 158,000 immigrants evaded Border Patrol arrest during the same period. In total, nearly 2 million migrants have crossed the border since October, despite efforts by the Biden and AMLO governments to reduce the number of migrants crossing the border during the simultaneous presidential elections in Mexico and the United States. entered the United States.
Randy Clark He is a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as Division Chief of Law Enforcement Operations and directed operations for nine Border Patrol stations within the Del Rio, Texas area. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
