San Diego Closes Migrant Shelters Due to Decrease in Asylum Seekers – One America News Network
OAN Staff James Meyers
4:26 PM – Tuesday, April 1, 2025
A large migrant shelter in San Diego, California, is shutting down as the city experiences a notable decrease in asylum seekers following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
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As reported by CBS8 News San Diego, the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Mission Valley is set to revert back to regular hotel operations and will no longer serve as a migrant shelter.
Reports suggest that the shelter had been operated by Catholic Charities, according to Fox News.
This latest closure follows the announcement in February by Jewish Family Service of San Diego, which shared its decision to close its center and lay off 115 employees due to “changes in federal funding and policy.”
“Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) is responding to the changing needs of the community in light of recent and anticipated federal policy shifts,” the organization stated. “With a strong commitment to its core value of ‘Welcome the Stranger,’ JFS is redirecting its immigration efforts to focus on offering pro bono legal services and community support resources.”
The shelter had been functioning as a regional migrant facility in San Diego County for over six years before its closure.
The non-governmental organization (NG) reported no new asylum-seeking families or individuals since the Biden administration halted the use of the “CBP One” app. In 2023, this app was expanded to enable migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry, initially in response to an exception from the Title 42 public health order.
In contrast, U.S. Border Patrol agents have indicated that since February, under the Trump administration, “migrant encounters have decreased” dramatically by “95%.” As Los Angeles Times reports, arrests have decreased from over 1,200 per day under Biden, while during Trump’s administration, the “peak” was only 30 to 40 arrests per day.
“Describing the change as dramatic is an understatement,” stated Jeffrey Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the San Diego sector, to the newspaper.
By the end of December, over 936,000 migrants had made appointments to be paroled using the application, according to Customs and Border Protection.
“With the discontinuation of the CBP One application for migrants, the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) Migrant Shelter Services, operated by JFS, has not received any new asylum-seeking families or individuals released from short-term federal custody into our care. Due to these shifts in federal funding and policy, the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services will be paused until there is a clearer understanding of future community needs,” the statement explained.
In 2024, the SDRRN received $22,077,365 in taxpayer-funded FEMA assistance, despite claims of not having received any funding—based on records available on the FEMA website.
Similarly, other cities across the country have closed their migrant shelters, including Denver, which shuttered four shelters while announcing plans to “consolidate shelters in an effort to save the city millions of dollars.”
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