For perhaps months, asylum seekers with nowhere else to go had found a place in a homeless encampment on the edge of a waterfront park in Barrio Logan. But last week the Port of San Diego told them and the dozens of others in the camp that they had to leave — or face arrest or citation.
By the Thursday morning deadline, dozens of people who had been living at César Chávez Park had either left or were doing so. The asylum-seeking families who had been staying there had days ago been moved to shelters.
In about an hour and a half, cleanup crews had removed some abandoned tents, bedding and trash that remained.
Homelessness in San Diego County has grown every month for more than two years, according to The Regional Task Force on Homelessness. While the majority of people on the streets are U.S. citizens, a share of those living outside are migrants and asylum seekers.
During the cleanup, a group of immigrant rights advocates monitored the situation from a distance. Robert Vivar, part of the San Diego Immigrants Rights Consortium, said they wanted to make sure no asylum seekers were arrested or cited for being at the site. Port officials confirmed there were no arrests.
In the notices issued by the Port of San Diego, people living in the area were informed that they may be in violation of some sections of the San Diego Unified Port District Code, related to park hours, camping and storage of property. Officials said they were taking steps under the executive order issued last month by Gov. Gavin Newsom calling on communities to clean up homeless encampments.
The encampment, set up on the edge of the park, ringing a playground and soccer field, had raised concerns from the community, according to the Port.
“We recognize regional homelessness is a challenging issue and we remain committed to approaching it with comion and humanity through collaboration with community and public agency partners,” Port spokesperson Brianne Mundy Page said in a statement Thursday. “The Port of San Diego’s responsibility to all visitors of San Diego Bay and the surrounding waterfront is to protect public access and use of our public spaces as well as public health and safety.”
Catholic Charities offered temporary shelter to families with children and was looking for long-term shelter for them, said Kimberly Ortiz, director of outreach and communications for Catholic Charities. Perkins Elementary Principal Fernando Hernández also stepped up to help the families living at the park, Mundy Page said.
But while families left days ago, some single adult asylum seekers remained in the park. On Monday, a Venezuelan man said briefly that he would comply with the order and find another place. Others declined to speak with the Union-Tribune.
Most migrants and asylum seekers who arrive at the border usually stay in the San Diego region for a few days after being processed and released by the U.S. Border Patrol. Most are working their way toward their final destinations. But on occasion, people who were supposed to receive them back out, and some have been forced to wait for their court dates here without resources.
Vivar said migrant advocates were concerned that some asylum seekers had been living for perhaps days or months at the park.
“How is it possible that they are not getting the care and services that they need?” he asked.
Vivar said that now that the county has secured federal funding to assist migrants, this need should be addressed. In April, the county received $19.6 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, which provides funding to non-federal entities that provide humanitarian services to newly arrived migrants.
The funds will be used to open a migrant transition center, and contract negotiations with an operator are in the final stages, according to a spokesperson for county Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas. The center will provide services such as transportation, translation, food and internet to help migrants continue to their final destinations. But the funding will not cover long-term or permanent housing solutions, officials added.
Since new asylum restrictions went into effect in June, migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have decreased, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As a result, recently released asylum seekers are no longer being dropped off at a transit station in south San Diego as they had been for months.
“The actions are working and migrant street releases have dropped to zero for the last six weeks,” Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, said in a statement Tuesday.
Instead, people who are processed and released by the Border Patrol are sent directly to Catholic Charities’ respite shelters.
Antonio Sánchez, a Mexican immigrant who said he had been in the U.S. for at least three years, said he had been living in the park for months. He was the last one to leave Thursday. He said he became homeless when he lost his job at a restaurant months ago.
He said that the time he shared with people from other countries at the park created a sense of community in which “they helped each other.”
As the cleanup crews approached his tent, he took only his clothes, a blanket and cooking items. He left the rest behind.
As he stood in the corner and witnessed the last of the tents being removed, Sánchez said he was looking for a place to spend the night and that it would likely be another park, at least for now. He said he had been looking for a shelter some time now but had no luck.
Staff writer Blake Nelson contributed to this report.
