TIJUANA RIVER VALLEY, Calif. — With just hours before the end of Title 42, the crowds of desperate migrants continue to grow along San Diego’s border wall.
An estimated 1,900 migrants are now waiting between the primary and secondary walls, a Border Patrol Union representation told ABC10's Ciara Encinas.
A single porta-potty exists for the migrants to use who’ve come to the United States from all around the world.
“I mean they have one toilet that’s been here for I don’t know how long and it’s full and so these people can’t even use the bathroom and it’s inhumane,” said Denise McEwan, a concerned San Diegan.
McEwan was handing out garbage bags and other supplies to migrants on Thursday. Asylum seekers have been using the bags to stay out of the hot sun in the day.
The director of the American Friends Service Committee decried the conditions the migrants were in.
“The national standards for how people should be treated are not being recognized or met at this point,” said Pedro Rios.
“There are people here who have been in this space for seven days, some for 12 hours so there’s a lot of different expectations about what should happen.”
A Falck Ambulance representative told 10 News reporter Austin Grabish that rescues along the border have doubled this week. People are being injured from jumping over the border wall while others are suffering from heat exhaustion.
Some women and children have been spotted leaving in ambulances in the area.
The International Rescue Committee said it was deploying resources to the border.
“We are scaling up our ability to provide assistance to arriving asylum seekers. I think the bottom line is to remember that people in need of protection are exercising their legal right to seek asylum under federal and international law,” said Maria Silva, the IRC’s technical advisor for cross-border and asylum.
Silva said many migrants have been misinformed and taken advantage of believing now is the time to come to the border.
“I think there’s lots of confusion. The uplifting of Title 42 provides the opportunity for smugglers and other non-government actors to unfortunately exploit the populations that we serve.”
Title 42 allowed border officials to quickly turn back nearly three million asylum seekers due to the COVID emergency. Immigration attorneys say once it ends, it could get harder for migrants to make an asylum case.
They fear cases will be so rushed the chances of getting asylum will be diminished and people will be turned away if they haven’t first made an appointment on the CBP1 app, which has been plagued with problems.
Rios is asking people who want to support migrants at the border to buy items on an Amazon gift list that's been created
