Migrants move into San Diego airport as state's homelessness crisis overwhelms shelter system

For the last few weeks, hundreds of migrants have temporarily moved into the San Diego International Airport as California’s homelessness crisis overwhelms its shelter system.

Migrants taking up residence at the airport are reportedly being forced to sleep in the terminals overnight as they wait up to several days to catch their scheduled flights out of the state.

One young woman from Nicaragua told Telemundo last week that she did not have a plane ticket and was still waiting to receive a travel date, KNSD reported.

Soraya Vázquez, with the organization Al Otro Lado, told the news outlet, “There are migrants sleeping on the floor at the airport and that already generates a stigma that does not help in any way to a good reception or a good integration of them into that society.”

Paulina Reyes, managing attorney with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, explained that approximately 20 migrants arriving at the airport each day do not have flights booked, the New York Post reported. By the end of the day, roughly half have found flights, she noted. According to Reyes, some migrants wait three or four nights before receiving tickets.

Mindy Wright, spokesperson for SBCS, the organization that runs the San Diego Welcome Center, denied Reyes’ claims. Wright told the San Diego Union-Tribune that migrants must have proof that a flight is booked before they are bused to the airport.

Organizations such as We All We Got have been making trips to the airport to deliver meals, water, and hygiene kits to migrants camped out in the airport terminals waiting for flights, volunteer Roni Elias explained.

“We would initially make just about 50 sandwiches, 50 meal packs for people. But then, we realized that was not enough,” Elias stated. “Last week, I counted 308 people sleeping over.”

Krystle Johnson, another volunteer with We All We Got, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the migrant population residing at the airport has “grown exponentially” and the organization is “not totally sure why.”

“It’s almost becoming a second [migrant welcome] center because there’s so many people there,” Johnson added.

Since mid-September, over 40,000 migrants have been processed and released into San Diego County. Meanwhile, approximately 172,000 individuals make up California’s homeless population, many of whom are residing in the state’s shelter system.

San Diego International Airport officials sent a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune last week explaining, “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.”

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