Illegal migrants in the San Diego area of the U.S. border with Mexico thanked President Joe Biden after being released into the country from the area’s overburdened migrant processing facilities, the New York Post reported Friday.
“Thank you America, thank you American president,” an Indian migrant said after the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) dropped him off, allowing him to enter the U.S., according to the outlet.
Other migrants being dropped off reportedly told the outlet they were from various countries, including China, India, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Colombia.
The San Diego Sector’s processing facilities are experiencing carrying capacities of 245%, with facilities designed to hold 750 migrants at most now holding 1,812 migrants, the outlet reported. The sector has eight stations, according to CBP.
As U.S. policy states migrants may not be held for more than 72 hours, they are soon released into the country, with over 125,000 migrants reportedly released onto San Diego’s streets since September 2023.
A family of Chinese migrants told the outlet they followed a route shared with them in China which led them through Thailand and Turkey and cost them $70,000. They were in the U.S. to visit relatives, the outlet reported. (RELATED: ‘Why Are You Filibustering?’: Mayorkas Stumbles Over Answer When Asked What Power He Lacks To Enforce Border)
Migrants thank Biden for letting them in as US Border Patrol’s San Diego processing centers reach eye-popping 245% capacity https://t.co/BVul2Nnam9 pic.twitter.com/B1cQ0qgQG9
— New York Post (@nypost) April 12, 2024
The release of the migrants has raised national security concerns, considering arrests such as that of a serial deportee and gang member in February 2024 and those of 59 terror suspects between October 2023 and January 2024. By comparison, CBP reportedly arrested 30 terror suspects between 2017 and 2021.
“You have to keep in mind that we only know what we have in our databases, but when they’re coming from other countries if the United States doesn’t have cooperation we don’t know what their background is in their country,” Manny Bayon, National Border Patrol Council president for the San Diego Sector, told the outlet.
The San Diego Sector is one of the two busiest illegal immigration hotspots — the other is the Tucson Sector in southern Arizona. The Del Rio Sector in Texas, however, reportedly witnessed a decrease in these encounters following a wave of arrests as part of the state’s Operation Lone Star.
Texas continues to erect razor wire and fencing to deter illegal migration into the state, according to the outlet.
California’s status as a sanctuary state, however, and the acts of mass release of migrants into the country incentivize illegal immigration, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told the outlet.
“People are entering illegally. We are not enforcing our laws,” Desmond reportedly said.