San Diego, CA
San Diego Border Patrol chief says calling low crossing numbers a 'dramatic change' is an 'understatement'
The dramatic change in the number of people crossing the border cannot be understated, according to a San Diego border patrol chief.
The Los Angeles Times spoke to Jeffrey Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the San Diego sector of the border, on Sunday about the substantial decrease in illegal migrant encounters and arrests over the last few months. According to the LA Times, arrests have gone from more than 1,200 per day during their peak last April to only 30 to 40 per day.
“To say there has been a dramatic change would be an understatement,” Stalnaker said.
He pointed to federal actions taken at the border since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, such as additional barbed wire and increased U.S. and Mexican National Guard troops stationed on both sides.
CALIFORNIA TOWN WITH LARGE MIGRANT POPULATION MIGHT REVOKE SANCTUARY STATUS
Border Patrol sources told Fox News Digital that crossings have dropped by 95% in San Diego. (Fox News)
“What we see behind us here today is the result of a true whole-of-government effort, from the Marines laying down miles of concertina wire along the border infrastructure, to the soldiers manning our scope trucks and remote video surveillance cameras,” Stalnaker added.
Outside the military, humanitarian groups also described seeing dramatic shifts at the border. One organization, the American Friends Service Committee, reported going over a month without seeing any illegal migrants, leading them to eventually tear down three canopies of aid supplies.
Other groups such as Immigrant Defenders Law Center and Al Otro Lado told the LA Times that they plan to refocus their efforts on providing legal services for detained illegal immigrants over providing humanitarian aid.
CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA: MIGRANT CHAOS ON SAN DIEGO AREA BEACHES ‘PRETTY SCARY,’ LOCAL OFFICIALS SAY
Several thousand U.S. and Mexican troops have been stationed at the border since Trump’s inauguration. (Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Earlier this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that it was shutting down a migrant processing facility near San Diego after an unprecedented drop in apprehensions. This facility was originally opened in January 2023 with a capacity of about 500 people.
Border Patrol sources told Fox News Digital on Friday that San Diego saw a 95% reduction in illegal immigrant encounters at the border.
Only 36 apprehensions were reported in San Diego on Thursday compared to 908 one year prior.
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County leaders are keeping their options open for a future county-backed tax hike as a citizens coalition pushes a November sales tax measure.
Officials in late April quietly extended a contract with consultants tasked with researching and poll-testing potential county revenue options for a Board of Supervisors subcommittee led by Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe. The extension is for up to two years and the price tag remains up to $320,000.
Other county supervisors’ offices told Voice of San Diego they weren’t notified of the change – and one is now working on a policy proposal to force public updates on subcommittee-directed contracts.
County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said staff directed the contract extension “in consultation with the subcommittee” and based on prior board approval last September to create the Sustainable Fiscal Planning Subcommittee. The item allowed the subcommittee to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to explore multiple options to increase county revenues and taxes.
An initial January 2026 contract called for Chula Vista-based Ironwood Public Affairs and four subcontractors including a prominent local Democratic campaign consultant to survey county residents, prepare revenue estimates for potential tax hike options, conduct focus groups and outreach and submit a report by May 1.
On April 30, county staff amended the contract with Ironwood to “deliver any requested ballot measure language, report, and presentations no later than June 30, 2028.”
Five days later, a coalition that includes labor groups and advocates submitted signatures to the county registrar’s office for a proposed countywide sales tax hike projected to raise $360 million annually to fund healthcare, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety. The registrar’s office has since confirmed the measure qualified for the November ballot.
Lawson-Remer has rallied behind the sales tax proposal and argued that a “local revenue measure” could shield the county from Trump administration-backed cuts. The county has projected that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cost the county $300 million annually.
In a statement, Lawson-Remer’s office noted that a board majority voted last September to create the subcommittee and hire a consultant.
“With the Trump Administration threatening healthcare, food assistance, behavioral health, and other core services — and federal decisions being announced, reversed, paused, challenged, and revived in real time — the county and Fiscal Subcommittee has a responsibility to plan for multiple scenarios, including federal cuts, state shortfalls, taxpayer savings, state advocacy, and whether any local funding option does or does not materialize,” Lawson-Remer’s office wrote.
In a separate statement, Montgomery Steppe also pointed to board approval of the subcommittee and its work “evaluating fiscal risks and options to help inform future Board decisions.”
A few months after the September vote to approve the subcommittee, the county hired Ironwood Public Affairs led by former county staffer Victor Aviña. Aviña’s company subcontracted with prominent Democratic campaign consultant Dan Rottenstreich’s company Amplify Campaigns, polling firm FM3 Research, Los Angeles revenue forecasting firm Economic & Planning Systems and Los Angeles-based law firm Kaufman Legal Group.
Glenn said the county has thus far paid Ironwood $96,000 for planning tasks that the initial contract said should be completed by early this year.
The county has yet to provide documents to Voice that the contractor submitted to the county about its work a month after a public-records request.
Spokespeople for the county’s three other elected supervisors said this week they weren’t notified about the changes to the contract.
Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, the two Republicans on the board, have criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the subcommittees and consultants at least two of them have hired.
At an April board meeting, Desmond argued that subcommittees shouldn’t be allowed to spend county money or secure contracts without a review by the full board.
And Anderson has pushed for reforms to increase transparency for subcommittees that have met behind closed doors. The board on Thursday unanimously approved changes to make more of those meetings more public.
Anderson’s office said he is now working on a board proposal that, among other changes, would also require updates to the full board on work that outside consultants are doing for subcommittees. He expects to bring the proposal to the board in August.
“There’s no possibility of secrecy when a vendor/contractor reports to the entire board,” Anderson wrote in a statement.
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