SAN DIEGO — San Diego County leaders voted on Tuesday morning to allocate $3 million to local non-profits that provide support services for migrants.
“Today marks a significant moment in our ongoing commitment to addressing the pressing humanitarian crisis at our border. I am grateful to my colleagues for their support in allocating necessary funds to support our local NGOs as they process unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers in our region," Chairwoman Nora Vargas said on Tuesday in a press release.
This comes as an unprecedented number of migrants seeking asylum are continuing to cross into the United States, including here in San Diego.
This allocation of $3 million would be a short-term solution, funding migrant support services for up to three months while county leaders search for a long-term federal funding source.
"There are about 700 people a day being dropped off," said County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.
Many of those migrants seeking asylum in the United States have no home to return to.
"So many of them are fleeing persecution or death squads in their home countries," Lawson-Remer added.
This would earmark three million dollars to local non-profits that help these migrants transition to the U.S., helping to provide everything from essential food, water, and hygiene products to critical translation and transportation services.
Supervisor Jim Desmond voiced his disagreement with the decision.
"Today's decision to allocate $3 million local taxpayer dollars from the County of San Diego's budget towards migrants dropped by the border patrol is deeply disappointing. While I recognize the humanitarian aspects of this issue, I firmly disagree with its implications for our community," Supervisor Desmond said in a statement Tuesday.
"This is not the problem of the people who live and pay taxes in San Diego," countered El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, an outspoken critic of this proposed move. "This is the federal government."
"They're taking local money which should be spent on mental health issues, homeless issues, housing issues, all kinds of problems the county is supposed to deal with," he added, "and they're taking it and spending it on a federal problem."
Lawson-Remer pointed out that the money used would be federal funds.
"These are federal dollars. that we received as part of the American Rescue Plan Act that we still have and have not yet spent, so this is federal money we would be spending on this issue, not local money," Lawson-Remer said.
Wells questioned the use of American Rescue Plan funds, which he said are strictly earmarked for pandemic-related issues.
"I don't know how they're legally getting around spending Covid money on migrants that are coming across, so I think that is an issue as well," Wells said.
As for the issue of migrant support services being a federal responsibility, Lawson-Remer responded, "We really have an extraordinary failure of leadership in Washington, particularly in the House."
She added that it is crucial to take action at the county level to address this humanitarian crisis.
"It would be an abdication of our leadership as local elected officials to be waiting around for Washington to act," she told CBS 8. "I am not waiting for Washington. I say we do the right thing here because it is the right thing to do."
Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting gets underway at 9 a.m. For more information, click here.