Thread: Buses With Migrant Families Rerouted Amid Protests

Posted: Jun 30, 2014 7:23 AM PST Updated: Jul 02, 2014 6:50 AM PST
By: FOX 11

Murrieta, CA -

(FOX 11 / AP) Homeland Security buses carrying migrant children and families were rerouted Tuesday to a facility in San Diego after American flag-waving protesters blocked the group from reaching a suburban processing center.

The standoff in Murrieta came after Mayor Alan Long urged residents to complain to elected officials about the plan to transfer the Central American migrants to California to ease overcrowding of facilities along the Texas-Mexico border.

Many protesters held U.S. flags, while others held signs reading "stop illegal immigration," and "illegals out!"

"We can't start taking care of others if we can't take care of our own," protester Nancy Greyson, 60, of Murrieta, told the Desert Sun newspaper.

Many of the immigrants were detained while fleeing violence and extortion from gangs in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

After the buses were blocked, federal authorities rerouted the vehicles to a freeway and then to a customs and border facility in San Diego within view of the Mexico border.

The three buses were trailed by a half-dozen news crews during the two-hour trip. People near the San Diego facility were surprised by the caravan.

Juan Silva, 27, a welder in Chula Vista, said he thought officials were transporting drug traffickers. Then he heard the buses were carrying migrant families.

"I don't think people in that town should be against little kids," he said about the protesters in Murrieta. "We're not talking about rapists. We're talking about human beings. How would they feel if it was their kids?"

After the migrants are processed, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will decide who can be released while awaiting deportation proceedings.

Earlier in the day, a chartered plane landed in San Diego with 136 migrants on board, according to a federal Department of Homeland Security official who was not authorized to be named when speaking on the issue.

It was the first flight planned for California under the federal government's effort to ease the crunch in the Rio Grande Valley and deal with the flood of Central American children and families fleeing to the United States.

The government is also planning to fly migrants to Texas cities and another site in California, and it has already taken some migrants to Arizona.

More than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been detained after crossing the Texas-Mexico border since October in what President Barack Obama has called a humanitarian crisis. Many of the migrants are under the impression that they will receive leniency from U.S. authorities.

Another flight was expected to take 140 migrants to a facility in El Centro, California, on Wednesday, said Lombardo Amaya, president of the El Centro chapter of the Border Patrol union. The Border Patrol would not confirm that arrival date.

From Christina Gonzalez:

"It is so wrong," a Murrieta resident kept repeating. Like so many other people who showed up at a City Hall press conference, he was angry at the transfer of Central American immigrants to the local Homeland Security facility to reduce overcrowding in Texas.

Thousands of mostly minors have been crossing the border illegally, going from Mexico to Texas, literally ready to be detained by border patrol officials. Since they are from countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala they can't be deported immediately (as is the case with Illegal immigrants from Mexico). Mexican immigrants tend to claim poverty as the reason for coming to the U.S., Central Americans say it is violence and fear of death that forces them to flee. Since they are seeking asylum, they have to go before a judge before they can be deported or allowed to stay.

In the last few months, thousands of families and lone children have immigrated illegally, and they have overwhelmed the detention facilities. To ease the overcrowding, they are being transferred to locations outside of Texas, to be processed.

Murrieta is near the wine growing area of Temecula. It's border patrol facility is not as large as San Diego, but can process 25 people in an 8 hour shift. They will be receiving 140 immigrants every 72 hours, for the foreseeable future. Most are expected to be mothers or father with children.

Once they are processed, Homeland Security officials say, they will be allowed to stay with family or friends in the U.S. Others may be taken to bus stations so they can travel across the state. This truly angers Murrieta residents, some of whom believe most of the immigrants will stay around, and not show up at their court appointments.

One resident, telling Murrieta Mayor Alan Long that the community can barely afford to help the veterans who are citizens, or the residents who are still recovering from the financial downturn.

"I know and I agree," answered the mayor, again and again, to complaints. "But it is a Federal order, and we can't fight it. All we can do is make sure the situation is as safe as possible for everyone."

Those who did not oppose the decision to bring the immigrants to Murrieta did not want to speak on camera, fearing that the situation is going to be divisive for the community.

A public hearing has been set for Wednesday evening at MURRIETA Mesa high school.

It's expected to be packed.

http://www.myfoxla.com/story/2590397...-to-california

Moved to new, shorter thread.