Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published at https://afsc.org/newsroom/more-two-months-wall and was written by Adriana Lasso
On September 10, 2023, American Friends Service Committee’s US-Mexico Border Program staff served the first meal to asylum-seeking migrants at Whiskey-8, one of the four Open Air Detention Sites (OADS) in San Diego, located west of the San Ysidro Port-of-Entry.
The first meal was served that evening to approximately 35 people through the secondary border wall. That same evening, AFSC staff set up a permanent water station so migrants could always have ready access to water.
AFSC staff previously responded to the humanitarian need in April and May, highlighting Customs and Border Protection’s lack of compliance with national standards in keeping migrants between border walls in open-air conditions.
Our work is based on a principle of solidarity
AFSC called other experienced organizations for support – Universidad Popular, Friends of Friendship Park, mutual aid groups, Immigrant Defenders, Al Otro Lado, APALA, Free Shit Collective, SDIRC, and many faith and community volunteers. By September 13, all five solidarity stations were set up and continue to be running today. These include water, food, medical, phone charging, and clothing stations.
Soon after setting up the stations, we learned about the presence of asylum-seeking migrants in at least three more OADS besides those in South San Diego. These are in eastern San Diego County near Jacumba, CA where migrants must wait in more extreme temperatures in the remote desert wilderness.
Border Kindness, key members of mutual aid groups, and Universidad Popular set up a mobile station in Jacumba, CA the second week of September. The documentation from Jacumba indicated higher numbers of migrants than the OADS in San Diego. In response, our groups implemented a coordinated system of sharing supplies from the San Diego OADS with organizations attending to people in those isolated areas.
While elected officials hesitate, the community mobilizes
In early October, Nora Vargas, Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, released a letter requesting additional funding and urgent support from the federal government for the new arrivals. AFSC staff was steadfast in its advocacy, along with other advocates, for County representatives to acknowledge the existence of the seven OADS and to provide the emergency support through to new arrivals at the OADS.
To our dismay, the voices of those working day and night at the OADS were ignored and excluded from any financial resources. The volunteers directing the logistics at the border wall became more creative to communicate out the dire and ongoing need for food, water, medication, and clothes.
Soon, the medical community answered the call. Within days, doctors and nurses were at Whiskey-8 and Jacumba, putting in place a guide to help volunteers with the medical station when no on-site nurse or doctor is immediately present.
Death and injuries at Open Air Detention Sites
Our greatest fear, however, was realized when we learned that a 29-year-old woman from Guinea died at Whiskey 4, at an OADS west of the San Ysidro Port-of-Entry. Since early Spring we had expressed concern that holding migrants at OADS would eventually cause someone to die. AFSC, together with our partner organizations and community members, held a press conference on October 13 and built two alters at Whiskey 4 and Whiskey 8 in her memory.
According to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), over 70,000 migrants and asylum seekers from over 170 countries have arrived in our region since September 13, 2023. From our estimates at any given day, we encounter over 100 people only at Whiskey-8. Hundreds more arrive in Jacumba and at other OADS.
AFSC staff and our partners have served thousands of meals through the border wall, have clothed thousands weekly, and have alleviated the pain, uncertainty, and profound fear for many who have had to seek life-saving medical care by leaving Whiskey-8 in an ambulance.
Just in the last three days, volunteers on the ground supported a 13-year-old boy who fell from the border wall and was under excruciating pain for hours. On day 63, we assisted a woman who also fell from the border wall and had serious complications with her speech, indicating she had likely struck her head during the fall. The number of wounds, tears, and fears expressed to us from the migrants waiting to be processed are too many to list.
Our commitment to the dignity of asylum-seekers continues
As we reflect on the humanitarian support hundreds of community volunteers have facilitated through the border wall, we express our most profound appreciation to all those who unselfishly did not wait for elected officials to act and provide support to those in need, but instead, mobilized their networks, friends, and families and against all odds continue to act in solidarity with migrants through the border wall or in the remote wilderness. The volunteers expect nothing in return and ensure that we all see the dignity and humanity in those who have arrived in the beloved region we call our home.
For more information, please visit: https://afsc.org/programs/us-mexico-border-program.
