Supervisor Jim Desmond Op-Ed: A Hypocritical Federal Government
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Last week, bus loads of migrants were dropped off at train stations here in San Diego County.
They were not given bus tickets, or any resources to use these transit stations, leaving them virtually helpless.
Supervisor Jim Desmond appeared on KUSI and national news outlets to bring awareness to the border crisis that is getting worse each day, as our border patrol facilities are completely overwhelmed.
Desmond also wrote an op-ed detailing his perspective on the issue.
Supervisor Jim Desmond’s complete op-ed is below:
A Hypocritical Federal Government
San Diego County Supervisor, Jim Desmond
On December 26th, White House Spokesman Abdullah Hasan had this to say about the migrants who were dropped off at Kamala Harris’ home. “Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any Federal or local authorities. The political games accomplish nothing and only put lives in danger.”
While Governor Abbott hasn’t acknowledged that he was responsible for the decision, we have seen similar instances with Governor DeSantis sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and other sanctuary cities. Every time these incidents occur the media and politicians call this a “stunt” that put people’s lives at risk.
I find this ironic, because on December 23rd, the Federal Government did the same thing in San Diego County. I received a call around 11am, two days before Christmas informing me that nearly 200 asylum seekers were about to be dropped by Border Patrol at various transit stations in San Diego County. Two hours later, hundreds of people from China, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, Ukraine, and various other countries arrived with bewildered looks upon their faces. These migrants weren’t given any resources, instead they were dumped and left on their own. We scrambled in San Diego County and worked with local non-profits to provide support. In fact, the County of San Diego has 600 temporary beds for these types of situations, but with such short notice, we weren’t able to accommodate everyone.
Between December 23 and December 28, nearly 1,000 migrants were dropped in at transit stations in San Diego County. They weren’t given bus tickets, guidance or resources to even use the transit station. The Federal Government just left them.
Now, there’s a much bigger issue that needs to be resolved. Our immigration system is broken, and it must be addressed. We have a porous border, and this administration doesn’t care. But dropping migrants off in a sanctuary city is what Republican Governors have been criticized for, meanwhile President Biden and the Federal Government are doing the exact same thing.
