Tuesday, July 08, 2014

If you're going to San Ysidro

If you aren't wanted in Murrieta, you might be going to San Ysidro:
 Another group of undocumented Central American migrants arrived Monday in San Diego, continuing a process that has prompted intense opposition as well as widespread compassion for the plight of the exiles.

The group of about 140 immigrants, who entered the United States illegally in Texas, were flown into Lindbergh Field late this morning and then bused to a U.S. Border Patrol facility in San Ysidro for processing.

On Tuesday, an initial group of the same size arrived in San Diego and were driven to Murrieta, where crowds of angry protesters blocked their entrance to a USBP facility, prompting authorities to take them instead to San Ysidro.

The departure of the migrants from the Riverside area marked a victory for the roughly two dozen protesters who had gathered to decry the foreigners' arrival there, many waving flags and others carrying signs reading "Stop Illegal Immigration" and "Return to Sender."
I've been to San Ysidro, which is the border crossing that separates San Diego from Tijuana. That was back in 1980, when you could take a Greyhound bus and go visit Tijuana for the day, which I did when I was in San Diego for a Key Club convention. The only time that San Ysidro was otherwise in the news was later on in 1984, when it was the scene of a mass shooting at a McDonald's. It's not a particularly pleasant place and given that things in Mexico haven't improved since then, it's likely not very pleasant now. However, it's not Murrieta, where things continue to be tense:
Demonstrators opposed to illegal immigration stood their ground again at the Murrieta Border Patrol station on Monday, where U.S. Border Patrol had been scheduled to transfer a third round of buses, with approximately 140 illegal aliens aboard in total, transferred from overcrowded Texas detention facilities.

For a third time, the buses were rerouted to the San Ysidro, California Border Patrol station, near the U.S.-Mexico border, for processing. The demonstrators gathered in areas to the north and south of the Murrieta station after law enforcement blocked off the road near the station itself. Many told Breitbart News they considered their stand a success, since buses scheduled for Murrieta are avoiding it as long as demonstrators remain.
My guess is that the demonstrators will remain in position for a while. For now, this story isn't being reported too much in the national media, but the longer it goes, the less possible it will be to ignore.


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