In a recent incident in southern California, officials reported that a group of approximately 20 migrants attempted to board school buses filled with children.
The unsettling event occurred twice this week along two school routes near Highway 94 and Cochera, as confirmed by the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District in San Diego County.
According to the Daily Mail, Superintendent Liz Bystedt informed parents in a letter that on Tuesday, three migrants were seen walking in the middle of the highway, attempting to halt one of the district's school buses. The driver was forced to maneuver around the group. The following morning, around 20 migrants reportedly rushed at a bus as it was picking up students from the same stop.
Parents who were present at the scene assisted the bus driver in preventing the migrants from boarding the bus, as reported by Fox5 San Diego. Nicole Cardinale, a parent whose eight-year-old son's school bus was affected, described the incident as 'really scary.' She quoted her son saying, "these adults - they weren't kids - had backpacks on and they were trying to get on [his bus]... He said there was a lot of them."
In response to these alarming incidents, Bystedt announced that school buses would now bypass stops where migrants are present, proceeding to the next stop on the route. This decision was made to ensure 'the safety of students and bus drivers.' She urged parents to remain vigilant and follow the bus to the next stop to pick up their children if necessary.
The motives behind the migrants' attempts to board the school buses remain unclear. However, migrant advocate Pedro Rios suggested to Fox 5 that the harsh heat and mountainous terrain in the area could provoke desperate actions. The school district has reported the incident to the US patrol, California Highway Patrol, and the San Diego's Sheriff's office.
The Sheriffs Department stated to Fox 5, "The San Diego Sheriffs Office was made aware of this incident today. We are conducting a follow-up investigation to determine if a criminal act has occurred. The Sheriffs Office takes issues regarding student safety very seriously and are working with the school district in order to keep the students and our community safe."
San Diego has become a hotspot for illegal crossings, as indicated by U.S. figures in April. This makes it the fifth region to hold this distinction in two years, highlighting the rapid changes in migration routes. Many migrants claim that San Diego is the easiest and least dangerous place to cross, often relying on their phones for messages, social media posts, and voice calls to plan their route and crossing.
The appeal of San Diego partly lies in its proximity to Tijuana, the largest city on the Mexican side of the border, according to U.S. officials. Tijuana's airport has seen arrivals from nearly 100 nationalities this year, including significant numbers from Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, China, and Mauritania.
The diverse origins of migrants in San Diego pose a challenge for U.S. officials, as deportation flights to countries like India, Georgia, Egypt, Jamaica, and Vietnam can be costly and difficult to arrange. Mexicans, who are deported nearby over land, and Guatemalans and Hondurans, whose governments have long accepted frequent deportation flights, are less prevalent in San Diego than in other border areas.
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