SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Customs and Border Protection officials responded Monday to the arrival at San Diego’s U.S.-Mexico border of the first group of migrants from the caravan moving through Mexico.
Some 85 people associated with the LGBTQ+ community are near the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to journalist Jorge Nieto. While the majority of the migrants remain in Central Mexico, the Tijuana group left the others behind because they felt they were being discriminated against, Nieto said.
“As the San Ysidro port of entry is at capacity, we anticipate that those individuals will continue to wait in Mexico until CBP is able to take them in to begin processing them, as we already have a number of individuals waiting to be processed,” a CBP spokesperson said Monday.
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“When our ports of entry reach capacity, when their ability to manage all of their missions — counter-narcotics, national security, facilitation of lawful trade — is challenged by the time and the space to process people that are arriving without documents, from time to time we have to manage the queues and address that processing based on that capacity.”
CBP officials said the number of inadmissible individuals it can process varies based upon the complexity of the case, available resources, medical needs, translation requirements, holding and detention space, overall port volume, and ongoing enforcement actions.
“No one is being denied the opportunity to make a claim of credible fear or seek asylum,” said the CBP.
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Officials said the agency allows more people into its facilities for processing once space becomes available. Members of the migrant caravan may need to wait in Mexico as officers process others already in their facilities.
The LGBTQ+ group took buses to Tijuana and is currently living at an Airbnb in Playas de Tijuana, funded by U.S. lawyers for the group.
It is not clear when the group will attempt to seek asylum in the United States.
