Desmond has been a staunch critic of state and federal immigration policies that he considers a broken and inhumane system.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond says as many as 900 migrants, mainly from China, get dropped off in the Southern California area on a daily basis, signaling concerns over the county’s future and noting the lack of federal assistance.
“We’re getting inundated by the federal government,” Desmond told Youtuber Nick Shirley in a video posted on the county official’s social media.
Desmond, one of two Republicans on the county’s Board of Supervisors, has been a staunch critic of state and federal immigration policies that he considers a broken and inhumane system. He recently visited the sections of the border in the Jacumba and San Ysidro area, where the supervisor says he encountered abandoned tents, food, and water at open-air migrant encampments.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data representing events shows immigration officials have encountered foreign nationals approximately 8.1 million times under the Biden Administration, although not all who were stopped were allowed to remain in the country.
A Fox News analysis in February 2024 found that under President Joe Biden, the number of immigrants who entered the U.S. in the last three years make up the population of 36 individual states. Compared to California, the report said the number was about 19% of California’s population of 39 million.
Desmond said on social media that more than 10,000 migrants have been street-released since the end of February, noting the number is in addition to over 110,000 since October 2023.
“This is simply unsustainable,” he wrote.
San Diego, a sanctuary city with a population of more than 1.4 million people near the U.S.-Mexico border, reportedly does not require authorities to initiate contact to check immigration status or report illegal aliens to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during minor traffic offenses or infractions.
The Federation of American Immigration Reform reported local law enforcement also refuses to detain illegal aliens “in a migrant camp setting for DHS/Border Patrol unless there is a probable cause to arrest for a crime not related to immigration violations.”
Desmond said in San Diego County, most of the immigrants dropped off appear to be men and women from all over the world, including China, Ecuador, and Pakistan.
“We’re hoping they leave as soon as possible is what we’re trying to do — what we would like for them to do,” he said. “The federal government is giving no assistance and just dropping them here at our street.”
“So we’re kind of at the whim of what’s really going to happen and we’re getting no help from the feds,” he added.
Desmond wants to put an end to San Diego’s sanctuary city status, calling the surge in illegal immigration a “glaring symptom” of the Biden Administration border policies, according to his website.
