More than 300 migrants have crashed at San Diego International Airport as the border city was hit by a wave of people crossing.
Migrant overnight stays at the airport have become commonplace, but the number has increased dramatically in recent weeks.
On Thursday, a bus dropped off dozens of immigrants at Terminal Two, Fox 5 reported.
Some of them reportedly arrived hours or days before their scheduled flights, as local organizations have said they believe the people were transported there after being processed by Border Patrol.
Volunteer Roni Elias of a mutual aid group called We all We Got SD said, “Our biggest concern is all the children who are there and the vulnerable populations who sleep there.”
More than 300 migrants have been camping at San Diego International Airport in recent weeks
A volunteer is seen distributing supplies to migrants at the US-Mexico border in San Diego, California
Elias regularly visits the airport to personally deliver meals, hygiene products and water to the migrants.
She said her organization normally takes 50 sandwiches and meal kits for people, but she knew that wasn’t even enough when she counted 308 people sleeping there last week.
Many of the migrants can be seen sitting on airport floors as they eat and continue their journey to visit friends and relatives across the country.
In a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Diego Airport said, “Since late last year, San Diego International Airport has experienced a significant increase in the number of migrants using the airport to proceed to their next destination. ‘
“We have and will continue to work with volunteer groups and nonprofit organizations that serve migrants as they help their clients navigate the airport.”
U.S. Customs and Border Encounters recorded a 67.3 percent increase in migrants from last year, with the number rising from 17,875 to 29,904 this year.
“It’s really heartbreaking to walk away and know that they’re going to sleep on the floor,” Elias told Fox 5.
In October, an unprecedented number of Indian immigrants entered the US through the southern border, and new federal statistics have revealed that 42,000 were intercepted last year alone.
Another 1,600 migrants crossed the northern border, with the rising phenomenon affecting four times as many as in the past three years combined.
Texas migrants are seen charging their phones after being dropped off from a San Diego train station on October 10
The Biden administration has earmarked $1.6 billion of its roughly $14 billion border proposal to hire 1,600 new asylum officers
Nearly all Indian migrants then turned to the Border Police, who then treated them as asylum seekers due to the recent unrest surrounding India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Recently, migrant apprehensions at the U.S. border with Canada have increased by 550 percent, with 6,000 people crossing from 79 countries apprehended.
Border Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said most of the migrants come from Mexico, India, Venezuela, Haiti and Romania.
The northern border is more than 5,000 miles long and has only 115 entry points, meaning large parts of it are understaffed, officials say.
Nearly two-thirds of southbound migrants apprehended by U.S. border agents in the Swanton sector are from Mexico, according to CBP figures.
The increase in migrants, meanwhile, underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border, and the political challenge it poses to President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election in 2024.
In October, an unprecedented number of Indian immigrants entered the US through the southern border
President Joe Biden has insisted that any long-term solution to the U.S. migrant crisis will require help from Congress
His administration has also proposed about $14 billion for the border in a $106 billion spending package announced last month.
Biden has insisted that any long-term solution to the U.S. migrant crisis will require help from Congress.
The proposal also included $1.6 billion to hire 1,600 new asylum officers and processing staff, which is expected to double the number of people working on asylum cases.
Organizations like Elias are drawing up plans to make the travel process more efficient so that the influx of people do not have to spend the night at the airport to wait for their upcoming flights.