Migrants thank Biden for letting them in as US Border Patrol’s San Diego processing centers reach eye-popping 245% capacity

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The U.S. Border Patrol has more than twice as many migrants as it can detain in the San Diego area on the southern border — and immigrants there were thanking President Biden for letting them enter.

The agency’s processing centers in the region are operating at 245% capacity, as 1,812 migrants were detained Friday in facilities normally meant to hold 750, according to agency data obtained exclusively by The Post.

With this influx – and the fact that migrants can only be held for 72 hours – more than 125,000 migrants have been released onto the streets of San Diego since September.

Migrants exiting Border Patrol buses this week told the Post they came from a variety of countries — from China, India and Egypt to Jordan, Mauritania and Colombia.

“Thank you America, thank you American president,” one Indian migrant said after being dropped off by Border Patrol and allowed into the United States.

One Chinese family or migrants told the Post they paid $70,000 to come to the United States via Thailand and Turkey.

They shared that they were going to an address in Orlando, which they had written down on a small piece of paper.

“We followed a route shared with us in China to get here,” one of the Chinese said, adding that he had come to visit relatives.

Other migrants who had been released from border guards were asked where they were and how to get to the airport, before volunteers escorted them to the local tram to take them there.

With so many people arriving, rank-and-file Border Patrol agents worry that the agency won’t be able to properly vet everyone before releasing them into the country with court dates.

“We have to keep in mind that we only know what we have in our databases, but when they come from other countries, if the United States does not cooperate, we do not know what their origin is in their country,” National Border Patrol Council Chairman for the San Diego Sector Manny Bayon told the Post.

In San Ysidro, part of the San Diego sector, border agents arrested and released an Afghan national on the terrorist watch list in March 2023.

Nearly a year later, the FBI notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he was a suspected member of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami.

“It affects morale tremendously, because we obviously took an oath to defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. There are no consequences for anyone who comes to the United States at this time,” Bayon said of the mass releases and the failure to properly control them.

While San Diego is seeing an increase in crossings, traffic has slowed in other areas of the border. In Texas, Border Patrol processing facilities are under capacity as the state continues to erect more barbed wire and fencing to deter illegal crossings.

San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told the Post that California’s status as a sanctuary state, combined with the federal government allowing mass community releases, is attracting more and more migrants In the region.

“People are coming in illegally, we’re not enforcing our laws,” Desmond said.