Supplies Left for Migrants Crossing Otay Mountain Wilderness Destroyed: Volunteers

It was on a typical Saturday Morning for the volunteers of Borderlands Relief Collective. They had hiked the steep rocks of Otay Mountain, leaving crates full of water, canned food, and first aid supplies behind. 

“We leave any type of supplies that we think could mean the difference between life or death for migrants crossing through these borderlands,” said David Yu Greenblatt, a volunteer with the group.

Greenblatt said the group has been making these supply drops in the area every week for the past six months. 

“With all these winter storms we've been having, you can just imagine how cold and wet travelers can get hiking through the mountains at night when the temperature drops down to the 30s,” said Greenblatt. “Anything that we think could bring relief to somebody out in the desert or the mountains.”

This time, though, their relief efforts were in vain.

“Every single bottle of water was poured out,” said Greenblatt. “Every single bottle of Gatorade poured out, every can of food opened up and dumped into the mud. Those of us who were there that day, we'll never forget it. It's really hard to put into words. It's really, we were just incredibly shocked.”

While some of the volunteers stayed to document the mess and clean up, others hiked ahead to try and find those responsible for the destruction.

“We raced up the mountain, which was about a 45-minute, normally 40-minute hike,” said Emmet Daler Norris, a volunteer with the group. “We did it very fast, as fast as possible, we ran up a mountain to try to see whoever did this because it felt like a deliberate act of purposeful harm.”

That’s when the group came across two border patrol agents. They captured part of the confrontation on camera.

Video footage shows a volunteer asking one of the agents: ”Is it in your job description to slash water and open cans and dump food all over the wilderness area?"

The agent then responds: “It's abandoned property.”

In a statement to NBC 7, Customs and Border protection said:

“USBP leadership within San Diego Sector has emphasized to agents that they are not to remove or destroy water stations, food or other humanitarian aid left along trails within the Otay Mountain Wilderness.”

They continued by saying the incident had been referred to CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

“Our response is just to double down and go back into this volunteer work with double, if not 10 times, the energy and enthusiasm,” said Greenblatt.

The group hopes this story shines a light on an issue they say has become a common occurrence.

“The public at large needs to be aware that there are specific actions being taken by these federal agents to harm human life,” said Norris.