SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — There was a village of people camped out between the two border fences on Sunday morning. Border Patrol confirms that the migrants are now at processing centers around San Diego County.
An empty campsite with rows full of belongings and tents left behind.
It's a complete 180 from the dozens of asylum seekers who have been waiting in the area for weeks to be taken to full processing centers.
"For me, it's all about ensuring that people aren't having to face the uncertainty of waiting in an open-air, pre-processing area," Pedro Rios of American Friends Service Committee said.
Rios spent weeks at the site ensuring hungry migrants were fed and had the resources they needed while waiting to be picked up by agents.
Sunday afternoon, he watched as port officers cleared the camp.
"I think it was done efficiently; within a few hours, everyone who was here was processed," he said. "They had their passports inspected and their documents inspected."
He is part of a complaint filed about the makeshift encampment, alongside leaders at the southern border communities coalition and Universidad Popular.
"Border Patrol has violated their own standards and has put people at great risk of harm by keeping them in this makeshift encampment as a pre-processing open-air detention facility," he said.
Rios said this area, known as the enforcement zone, has always been a place that people cross through.
"My expectation is that Border Patrol does not [want] all people to stay here for a very long amount of time that could have significant impacts on their health and well-being," he said.
Once the migrants are processed through Border Patrol custody, they'll be dropped off at one of the shelters in our area. There, they'll likely get help gaining transportation to the next stop on their journey.
