El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells is sounding the alarm about what he says could be an influx of 300 to 500 migrants coming to the city, according to Customs and Border Protection, with Title 42's imminent end.
"We’re already pretty stretched thin because the county has been sending a lot of people to our homeless shelter and to our hotels with hotel vouchers, so our police department, our fire department, our whole infrastructure is stretched already," Mayor Wells said.
Wells sent a letter Wednesday to the White House asking for federal assistance and intervention to help handle the expected surge.
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“I expect them to bring some FEMA troops in, bring in medical personnel, bring in food and shelter, whatever we need to help," said Wells.
Back in December of 2022, CBP dropped off hundreds of migrants at the El Cajon Transit Center on South Marshall.
Wells hopes this time, California will declare a state of emergency to help provide assistance for border-region cities.
“We understand and share the same concerns,” said Brian Ferguson, Deputy Director for Crisis Communication and Public Affairs with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. “We'll work with the mayors to push the federal government to do what's responsible and respectful for all communities.“
And while the Department of Defense said last week it was sending 1,500 hundred military personnel to the border to help fill critical gaps, Ferguson says, “That’s not an offer that’s been made to the State of California.”
Leaving cities like El Cajon, to rely on their own resources.
“It’s like they just found out that this happened a couple of hours ago, so it's kind of a mess," Wells said.
NBC News learned Wednesday the Biden administration is preparing a memo that will direct CBP to begin releasing migrants into the United States without court dates or the ability to track them, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
The Biden administration began releasing migrants without court dates to alleviate overcrowding in March 2021, but had previously enrolled those migrants in a program known as Alternatives to Detention, which required them to check in on a mobile app until they were eventually given a court date. The new policy would release them on “parole” with a notice to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office but without enrolling them in the program.
