For the past four days, we have witnessed an unprecedented influx of migrants from all corners of the world being dropped off at transit stations throughout San Diego County. At the time of writing this, over 5,000 individuals have entered our region, and the numbers show no sign of slowing down. Our immigration system appears non-existent, and people from far and wide are capitalizing on the federal government’s apparent ineptness.

Let me be clear: this situation is neither humane nor compassionate. My heart aches for these individuals who are seeking a better life. Most of them do not speak English and lack the resources to reach their intended destinations. Yet, they are simply dropped and left in our County. This is a failure by the federal government.

We already face a severe homelessness problem, and dropping thousands of individuals onto our streets will only exacerbate this issue. The federal government should fund and operate temporary shelters or housing on federal properties and facilitate the processing of individuals to their final destinations rather than releasing them onto our streets and transit centers. Until they can responsibly manage this situation, they should not allow further entry into our region. We cannot have a country without a border.

This is also a result of state and local politicians offering legal protection and taxpayer-funded benefits, which only encourage this situation to persist. Both sides of the aisle have failed to come up with a reasonable immigration policy and now the County of San Diego is forced to take on their problems.

I will continue looking for solutions to help those in our County and work to fix our broken immigration system. I will keep you updated.

Jim Desmond

– San Diego County District 5 Supervisor