People living outside San Diego near the US-Mexico border say their properties are nightly overrun by migrants, who chop down their trees for firewood and camp out on their land with impunity — and neither the federal nor the local authorities are doing anything to help.
Brian Silvas, who lives on a 78-acre property on the southern border about 75 miles east of San Diego, told CNN that huge crowds of migrants troop across his land daily. In fact, the sight of dozens or hundreds of strangers has become so commonplace that Silvas’ three dogs, Whiskey, Soldier and Freedom, do not even bark at them anymore.
“This country was built on immigration. I’m fine with that,” Silvas, a self-described conservative, told the news outlet. “But not like this. This is ridiculous.”
The disgruntled property owner said the flood of migrants crossing from Mexico has increased since the expiration in May of Title 42 — a COVID-era emergency health authority that allowed US officials to turn away migrants at the border on the grounds of preventing the spread of the virus.
Since then, the Biden Administration has struggled to stop massive caravans of migrants from entering the US.
Jerry and Maria Shuster, who have lived in Jacumba Hot Springs, about 5 miles east of Silvas’ property along the border, for 40 years, told CNN that migrants coming from Mexico have been using their 17-acre property as a makeshift campsite — and leaving behind tents, bits of clothing and mounds of trash.
Jerry Shuster, who is an immigrant from former Yugoslavia, said the newcomers had cut down all his trees and dismantled his fence to use as firewood to keep warm at night.
His wife Maria, who was born in Mexico, said she wants the government to stem the tide of illegal immigration.
“Stop it because [the migrants are not] helping us; they’re destroying us,” she lamented.
There were more than 230,000 encounters in the San Diego Border Patrol Sector during the fiscal year that ended in September — the highest number in over 20 years.
But witnesses said they have noticed a shift in the migrants’ behavior lately: if in the past they used to run away from CBP agents after crossing the border illegally, now they run towards them so they could be processed and then let go to await their day in court, which could take years.
Also, unlike before, the new arrivals are not limited to natives of Mexico and South American countries: officials have documented encounters with migrants from more than 40 nations, including China and Uzbekistan.
Silvas said that Border Patrol agents have now turned into Uber drivers for migrants, transporting them from the border to transit hubs in San Diego, from where they spread to other parts of the US.
“The migrants have more rights than we do,” said Maria Shuster, claiming that federal authorities and the local sheriff’s department have told her that they are unable to remove the hordes of strangers off their property.
The migrant crisis along the southern border has become increasingly dire. In November alone, CBP recorded 242,418 encounters — and December is on track to reach a record high, having already surpassed 200,000 encounters, with 10,000 migrants arriving daily.