Last Wednesday we heard from Krystle Johnson about the humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border. Krystal is a Lemon Grove resident and fellow activist who runs We All We Got Mutual Aid. They handle airport runs and coordinate food and supply deliveries to migrant refugees at the border, as well as around San Diego. She also works hand-in-hand with Detention Resistance, distributing food through the fence and responding to migrants dropped in the desert.

We were honored to hear from Krystal. We learned much more about what’s going on and we wanted to highlight the bullet points because Fellow Democrats, the reality is, the news is bleak.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The situations is overwhelming. In fact, it is so overwhelming that organizations have only been able to react to the situation and have not been able to get out ahead of it.
• The county has allocated $3 million to process and support migrants through SBCS (Formerly South Bay Community Services).
• The program has been operating for about 30 days and it is costing $1.5 million a month to run the program. Without additional funding, it will likely run out of money by mid-December.
• This doesn’t include assistance from mutual aid organizations like Detention Resistance and We All We Got.
• Until mid-October, Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP) were dropping migrants off throughout the county with no resources and often just with the clothes on their backs.
• Most refugees are coming here to meet-up with family or have a host family lined up. They just need help navigating the system and getting to where they are going.
• 500 refugees are being processed through a central processing facility each day.
• We All We Got takes refugees from the facility to the airport every day. At the end of the day, there are usually around 40 people with no plan. They are either still trying to reach family, or may have a few days before their flight leaves. These people are also dropped off at the airport.
• CBP has 7 open air detention centers. These are basically just spaces in the desert that they chose to drop people off at. People are shuffled between these spaces until they can be taken to the Central processing center.
• Families are still being separated. Sometimes people who make it to processing, choose to go back to the open air detention facilities because they don’t want to leave other members of their family.
• Meals and water are mostly provided by mutual aid organizations.
• There are no medical professionals and refugees only get transported to the hospital if their condition is considered life threatening.
• On October 13, 2023 a 29 year old woman from Guinea died at one of these open air detention centers.
• Humanitarian advocates have been vocal for months, as they have seen adults and children with broken bones, high fevers, respiratory illnesses, large gashes, and many other medical problems, left to their own devices.
• The situation is worse in California because Texas and Arizona are busing many of their refugees here due to the lack of media coverage.

The situation is bleak and dire. These people usually know what they are facing. They are fleeing situations in their home countries that are life threatening and they come here understanding the risks. We can and must do better.

Spring Valley Lemon Grove Democratic Club

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