San Diego’s new $20M migrant center could exclude families living on the streets for months

Dozens of migrants living on the streets of San Diego could be left out of shelter and other services county officials have planned for asylum-seekers and recent arrivals.

The new Migrant Transition Day Center, funded by a nearly $20 million federal grant awarded to San Diego County, will limit services to migrants who have been released from immigration custody within the last 45 days, according to county documents and officials. 

That’s despite the federal government eliminating that 45-day restriction on who can benefit from grant-funded services. As a result, migrants, including families with young children, who have already been living in tent encampments in the city for months will likely be excluded from services tied to the center. They will instead have to rely on the city for shelter services, a county spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the city’s emergency shelter system remains over 90% full, and more than 80% of requests for shelter in San Diego are denied. When asked about the city’s ability to shelter asylum seekers and other recent arrivals living within city limits, a city spokesperson deferred questions to the county.

Nora Vargas, County Board of Supervisors chairwoman, was not available for an interview with inewsource, according to her spokesperson. 

Vargas “has been actively addressing the urgent needs of asylum-seekers in San Diego County, including families and children,” her spokesperson said in an email, noting Vargas’ support for seeking federal funding for the transit center. 

The spokesperson did not answer questions about why the county was limiting services to migrants recently released by immigration authorities or what could be done for those who wouldn’t qualify. 

Supervisors Joel Anderson and Terra Lawson-Remer declined to comment. Monica Montgomery Steppe and Jim Desmond did not return requests emails from inewsource. 

County leaders haven’t announced when the migrant center will open or other details, such as how many people will receive shelter or other services. Meanwhile, in recent months, migrants, including families with young children, have settled into tent encampments across the city.

Albany Hernandez, her partner and their three children had been living in a tent on a dirt patch next to a downtown freeway exit for two months. The family left Venezuela in 2018, fleeing an authoritarian crackdown, and lived in Colombia before crossing into the U.S. in May. 

One recent afternoon, she chopped vegetables and cooked lunch under the shade of a tree. Above her makeshift kitchen, bike helmets, bananas and plastic bags with cooking supplies hung from the branches. 

“This is no life for anyone. It’s getting dusty all day. The children are sleeping poorly. That’s no life for anyone,” Hernandez said.

After inewsource and KPBS reporting on migrant encampments earlier this month, Hernandez said she was finally able to land a spot in transitional housing run by a local shelter. But other families with young children remain on the street. 

Since mid-September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, has dropped off more than 136,000 asylum-seekers and other migrants across San Diego County, according to county officials. After migrants cross into the U.S., CBP typically documents, processes and releases them from custody at local transit stations. 

These “street releases” have left migrants disoriented and stranded, often with little information about where they are and how to get to their final destinations across the U.S. Officials say the vast majority of migrants have friends or family they hope to reunite with outside of San Diego County. 

The county’s new center will focus on preventing street releases, arranging travel for migrants to reach their sponsors and providing basic services. The grant, which comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, is expected to fund the center for 18 months. 

Advocates and local leaders have said the new migrant center will be crucial in preventing asylum-seekers and other migrants from falling into homelessness.

But only those who are seeking help within 1.5 months of being released from federal custody will be eligible, according to Tim McClain, a spokesperson for the county’s Health and Human Services Agency.

In response to questions from inewsource, McClain said that the 45-day window came from previous FEMA guidelines which limited the “allowable window for entities to provide services to noncitizen migrants.” 

FEMA has since removed the time limit on who the funding could benefit, but the county has kept the restriction. 

McClain said the purpose is to provide temporary support to help people move onto their final destinations. Migrants who don’t qualify for center services “could be assessed at the (center) for community resources/support services,” McClain said.

The county has coordinated with city officials and migrant aid groups to assess migrants for food and medical public assistance, among other services, such as adding them to shelter waitlists, McClain said.

Some migrants among tent encampments had already been in the U.S. for multiple months or more than a year, sometimes after traveling from other cities in the U.S. or living in local homeless shelters. 

Some have jobs, leaving for work from the encampments. Others are struggling to find income while they wait to receive a permit which would allow them to legally work in the U.S., which can take months to obtain.

Mutual aid groups, including We All We Got SD, have stepped in to help migrants reach their sponsors or find shelter locally after being released by CBP. Krystle Johnson, one volunteer with the group, said volunteers are at the airport every evening handing out food and helping migrants arrange travel plans. 

But Johnson said finding resources for the migrants who don’t have anywhere else to go has been difficult. 

“There really has been no focus on families who want to stay in San Diego,” Johnson said. 

A previous migrant welcome center funded by the county lasted four months, but ran out of money earlier than expected and received criticism for mismanagement. The new center will be operated by Jewish Family Service of San Diego, which currently runs a migrant shelter program. 

A spokesperson for Jewish Family Service said it was too early to comment on when the center will open or how many beds it will provide, among other questions. Michael Hopkins, the group’s CEO, said through the spokesperson that the current shelter program has served more than 200,000 migrants in the last six years. 

“Our goal has always been to provide the best possible respite shelter services and then work with partners locally and nationally to support the small percentage (less than 2%) of guests who do not have points of contact in the U.S.,” Hopkins said. 

In July, about three dozen tents filled the edges of a San Diego park where some migrants have been living since at least May. 

One woman from Venezuela ended up at the park with her husband and three young children after crossing into the U.S. in June. They have been there for more than a week trying to get shelter.

Shelter space for families, in particular, remains elusive. Only 200 of the city’s 1,900 shelter beds are available to families. And on any given day, the city’s entire shelter system can reach capacity by noon. 

This comes at a time when San Diego and other cities are enforcing public camping bans. The San Diego City Council narrowly passed an anti-camping ordinance last year in June, making it illegal to camp citywide if shelter beds are available, and anytime, regardless of shelter availability, near schools, parks, transit hubs and waterways. 

Since enforcement began, San Diego police have issued 86 citations and made 15 misdemeanor arrests for unauthorized camping citywide, according to a spokesperson.