SAN DIEGO — President Biden weighs invoking an executive action to crack down on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as a steady stream of migrants was seen pouring into the United States through a hole in the border wall in East County San Diego.
According to Customs and Border Protection, in January CBP encountered more than 242,500 thousand migrants all across the country. That’s down from nearly 371,000 in December 2023.
More than 300,000 of those encounters in January crossed the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California - otherwise known as the Southwest Sector.
“Everybody knows that Mexico is dangerous but for a better lifestyle, it’s worth it,” shared one man seeking asylum in the US from Nicaragua.
He says he found the way to get here online on TikTok.
“They say people who started their journey are putting up their experiences and they tell you how much you spend, how much it costs and which way to go," he said. "You’ll see it there, just get information, information, information. You see it all there and then you just start your trip.”
His trip from Nicaragua took 40 days leaving behind his wife and child to try and plant their family's roots here in the U.S.
He's not alone.
For the last few weeks, there's been a steady stream of migrants crossing the border just an hour outside of San Diego in Jacumba or Boulevard, California through an opening in the border wall where they can easily pass through.
"This is one of the sites people are detained at before they can be processed,” said John Schultz, a local man who volunteers to help migrants found along our border. He said he sometimes sees migrants waiting for up to five days, and a lot can happen in the interim.
“I've seen everything," he said. "I've seen a woman have a heart attack on site. We also had a 13-year-old boy who died."
Schultz says he knows this a controversial situation but he sees himself in the people that he's helping.
"As an immigrant myself, as someone who was born and raised abroad, I see myself in them. I think to myself when I see them that I want them to have the same opportunities as I was given."
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