San Diego’s robust migrant advocacy networks have an opportunity to serve as an example for the rest of the country for how to offer care and support to refugees and asylum-seekers, say supporters.
But the region is frittering away the opportunity to do so, say immigration advocates with the California Welcoming Task Force, a cross-border coalition that coordinates groups with government at all levels to help people entering the United States navigate the byzantine bureaucracy that characterizes American immigration laws.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Securityannouncedthat it would offer $39.2 millionin new federal fundingto the San Diego regionas part of its Shelter and Services Program, which was lauded as an opportunity to boost services for people coming through the city.
But there are now concerns that the very groups which built these advocacy networks locally are being left out of discussions on how the money should be used, said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which is one of the groups that make up the California Welcoming Task Force.
“It’s really important that there’s this investment of federal funds into our welcoming infrastructure,” she said. “These dollars cannot be spent effectively without these organizations having a seat at the table.”
Previously, more than $6 million was allocated by the county to South Bay youth and family advocacy group SBCS for a Migrant Welcome Center — which they abruptly closed in February after just a few months, citing lack of resources.
“That’s what happens when the experts in the room are not consulted,” said Toczylowski, who noted that the members of the California Welcoming Task Force and the local San Diego Rapid Response Network have been stepping up their own work since the welcome center closed.
“Since February 23rd, we have welcomed 33,715 people who have been released on the streets of San Diego,” she said, referring to the Border Patrol pactice of what is euphemistically called “street releases” — dumping people at transit centers without resources or maps, which the Migrant Welcome Center was supposed to provide.
“Our collection of organizations is stepping up and making sure that all of those people make their way initially to the old town transit center, then on to the airport or onto buses or transit to get safely to where they need to go.
“We’ve done that with no funding at all.”
Earlier this month, San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas thanked local, federal and nonprofit partners for their help when she announced that the funding had been awarded to the county.
“I am thrilled to announce that after months of tirelessly advocating for funding, the federal government has allocated $19.6 million to support the thousands of asylum seekers who are coming across our border,” she said at the time. “Our work is not over, and we are now working to adopt a sustainable, federally funded migrant transition center in San Diego County.
“As we learn more details on the funding in the coming days and weeks, I look forward to working with our partners to maximize these critical federal dollars for our region,” Supervisor Vargas added.
This has not come to fruition, said Erika Pinheiro, executive director of Al Otro Lado a group that provides legal and humanitarian support to migrants on the ground in San Diego and Tijuana. “We’ve tried to meet with supervisors, tried to engage with them, but since this funding allocation came out they have not reached out to any organizations that have been providing aid on the ground,” she said.
“I heard Nora Vargas say she believed that the welcome center was a model for the rest of the country, and that really showed me that she’s never seen any other of the jurisdictions’ welcoming structure.”
Pinheiro said that Al Otro Lado, as with the rest of the California Welcoming Task Force and San Diego Rapid Response Network partners, has been coordinating for years to build out a welcoming infrastructure for migrants, which includes legal and humanitarian services, travel services, and other aid.
She added that until the state cut funding for the shelters that local nonprofits had been maintaining, San Diego was a national model for building a welcoming infrastructure.
“To see that being dismantled without even a conversation is …. it’s very disappointing.”
Residents interested in helping can donate to SDRRN, or contact them directly for volunteer opportunities.
