Migrant Advocates Working Around the Clock as Funding Dwindles

It’s only been about a week since San Diego’s Migrant Welcome Center closed, but advocates for asylum seekers and other migrants said they were already overwhelmed.

Records show U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have dropped off more than 1,000 migrants into the streets of San Diego since the center closed on Feb. 22. Advocates say an influx like this in such a short amount of time shows the dire need for funding that as of now isn’t there.

Policy experts said welcoming migrants and asylum seekers into the U.S. doesn’t have to be chaotic.

“The reception of new arrivals doesn’t need to be only through a crisis or emergency response,” said Kimiko Hirota, policy advisor for the Women’s Refugee Commission. “It works so much better when we are able to work collaboratively and not back away from the work but instead lean into it.”