Over three hundred migrants have been crashing at the San Diego International Airport as the border city has been hit with a surge of crossers.
Overnight stays by migrants have become common at the airport, but in recent weeks the number has drastically risen.
On Thursday, a bus dropped off dozens of immigrants at Terminal two, Fox 5 reported.
Some of them reportedly arrived several hours or days before their scheduled flights, as local organizations have said that they believe that the people were transported there after being processed by Border Patrol.
Volunteer Roni Elias from a mutual-aid group called We all We Got SD said: ‘Our biggest concern is all the children that are there and the vulnerable populations that are sleeping there.’
Over 300 migrants have been camping out at the San Diego International Airport in recent weeks
A volunteer is seen giving out provisions to migrants at the US-Mexico border in San Diego, California
Elias frequently checks out the airport to hand-deliver meals, hygiene products and water to the migrants.
She said that her organization typically brings 50 sandwiches and meal packs for people, but she knew that wasn’t even close to enough when she counted 308 people sleeping over last week.
Many of the migrants can be seen sitting on the airport floors as they eat and go on to continue their journeys to visit friends and family members across the country.
In a statement to 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 coordinate with migrant-serving volunteer groups and nonprofit organizations as they help their clients navigate the airport.’
US Customs and Border Encounters recorded a 67.3 percent increase in migrants from last year, as the number rose from 17,875 to 29,904 this year.
‘It’s really heartbreaking to walk away and know that they’re going to be sleeping on the floor,’ Elias told Fox 5.
In October, an unprecedented number of Indian immigrants entered the US through its southern border and new federal statistics have revealed that 42,000 were intercepted in the past year alone.
An additional 1,600 other migrants crossed over the northern border as the rising phenomenon has hit four times the amount of the past three years combined.
Migrants from Texas are seen charging their phones after they were dropped off a train station in San Diego on October 10
The Biden administration has designated $1.6billion of its approximate $14billion border proposal to go toward hiring 1,600 new asylum officers
Nearly all of the Indian migrants went on to turn to themselves into Border Patrol, who then processed them as asylum-seekers due to recent unrest surrounding India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
In recent times, the US border with Canada has seen a 550 percent increase in migrant apprehensions, and 6,000 crossers from 79 countries were nabbed.
Chief Border Patrol Agent, Robert Garcia said most of the migrants come from Mexico, India, Venezuela, Haiti and Romania.
The northern border spans over 5,000 miles long and has just 115 ports of entry, meaning massive areas of it are understaffed, officials say.
Nearly two-thirds of the southbound migrants arrested by U.S. border agents in the Swanton Sector are from Mexico, according to CBP numbers.
The surge in migrants, meanwhile, underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border, and the political challenge it presents for President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election in 2024.
In October, an unprecedented number of Indian immigrants entered the US through its southern border
President Joe Biden has insisted that any long-term solution for the US migrant crisis will require help from Congress
His administration has also gone on to propose approximately $14billion for the border in a $106 billion spending package that was announced last month.
Biden has insisted that any long-term solution for the US migrant crisis will require help from Congress.
The proposal also included $1.6billion to go toward the hiring of 1,600 new asylum officers and processing personnel, which is expected to double the number of people working on asylum cases.
Organizations like Elias’s are composing plans to make the travel process more efficient so the influx of people don’t have to stay overnight at the airport to wait for their upcoming flights.