SDRRN In The News
Our Newsroom is the place to learn the latest news about the San Diego Rapid Response Network. Browse through our press releases, view or read the latest news coverage.
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Nuestra Sala de Prensa es el lugar para obtener las últimas noticias sobre la Red de Respuesta Rápida de San Diego. Navegue a través de nuestros comunicados de prensa, vea o lea la última cobertura de noticias.
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Border Report
August 30, 2021
With the Supreme Court ruling requiring the Biden’s Administration to revive MPP, San Diego advocates are already concerned Remain in Mexico’s reinstatement will force more migrants into dangerous living conditions. Jewish Family Services described Remain in Mexico as a “cruel and inhumane program.” They further explained, “over the last two years, we have seen firsthand the mental and physical toll the policy places on those traumatized by the violence and persecution they have fled from in their home countries.”
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The San Diego Union-Tribune
August 28, 2021
The Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration to follow a Texas judge’s ruling to restart Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols. Many migrants are already being returned to Mexico under Title 42. Luis Gonzalez, Immigration Attorney of Jewish Family Service of San Diego, called the ruling “bittersweet” because he knew Jewish Family Service had managed to help 37 more asylum seekers get processed into the United States before the Supreme Court order was announced. However, he knew there were thousands more still stuck outside the United States — including some of his clients — who now might have to wait much longer in dangerous conditions.
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ABC 10
August 25, 2021
Local immigrant’s rights advocates are speaking out after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a court ruling ordering the president to reinstate the controversial Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy. In anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling, Jewish Family Service worked tirelessly yesterday — the last day of processing and crossing — to assist as many individuals and families through the MPP wind-down process as possible. Working through the night, JFS welcomed an additional 37 individuals comprising 16 families.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune
July 13, 2021
Jewish Family Service and American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties (ACLU) sent a letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary, outlining the ways that migrant families are still being split apart, the harm that separation causes, and suggested immediate policy changes.
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KPBS
June 3, 2021
Meet one Honduran family who escaped a politically-motivated machete attack to seek asylum in the United States. Jewish Family Service of San Diego helped this family prepare for their move from SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services to New York, where their sponsor awaits. According to JFS Border Advocate, Eitan Peled, “What we’re doing is showing people we can both protect public health and afford people the right to seek asylum.”
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NPR
May 12, 2021
More migrants are being granted humanitarian exceptions because they are considered the most vulnerable, including families with young children and transgender people who had been living in dangerous conditions in Mexican border towns.
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DirectRelief
May 10, 2021
Sometimes, that means stabilizing people so they’re ready to travel on to a final destination. Kate Clark, Sr. Director of Immigration Services at JFS, shares how we transformed our Migrant Shelter Services during COVID-19.
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Politifact
April 12, 2021
Immigration authorities are working with state and local authorities and non-governmental organizations to ensure that all migrants receive COVID-19 testing before and after entering the U.S. Eitan Peled of Jewish Family Service of San Diego shares more about this process.
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Direct Relief
March 30, 2021
Direct Relief is supporting health facilities on both sides of the southwestern border including the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune
March 26, 2021
Jewish Family Service receives families and adults who are coming into the United States from the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program as well as asylum seekers released by Border Patrol into San Diego.
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Washington Post
March 24, 2021
In this video segment, we learn more about migrant families at the border from dangerous conditions, confusing policies, to never letting go of hope. Eitan Peled, JFS Border Services Advocate, is interviewed.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune
March 21, 2021
As the Biden administration urges people not to migrate north to the U.S. border, the situation for asylum seekers who have been waiting at the border is a situation of growing confusion. Kate Morrissey of The San Diego Union Tribune reports the situation and details the increased arrival numbers we are experiencing in this Sunday frontpage article. Morrissey writes, “Many of these migrants, particularly Cubans, have been released to the Jewish Family Service shelter (services), amplifying a need for more volunteers and more staff to safely manage the new arrivals.”
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Forbes
March 15, 2021
A Q&A with Jewish Family Service of San Diego’s Kate Clark, senior director of immigration services, about their legal and advocacy work for families seeking asylum in the United States.
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Buzzfeed News
March 6, 2021
Gerson handed the border officer his Honduran passport and placed his fingertips on a small scanner. This was the last hurdle before his family could escape the kidnapping, threats, and extortion they had endured in Mexico while trying to gain asylum in the US. Now, he and hundreds of other asylum-seekers who spent months holding onto a sliver of hope while being forced by the Trump administration to wait in Mexico are entering the US. Kate Clark, the senior director of immigration services at Jewish Family Service of San Diego, said the group has taken in nearly 300 people who were previously stuck in Mexico under the Trump administration policy.
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CNN
March 3, 2021
Stuck in Mexico for nearly a year under the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, asylum seeker Nicholas was finally able to cross into the United States, thanks to an executive order from President Joe Biden. Featuring an interview with CEO Michael Hopkins.
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VOA
March 2, 2021
Esperanzas infundadas, siguen llegando inmigrantes a una frontera estadounidense que no se abre; familias separadas en la frontera, una nueva controversia en Estados Unidos; se refuerza la batalla para producir más vacunas para los estadounidenses y el Departamento de Estado emite informe con la clasificación de países que fracasaron en la lucha antidrogas.
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CBS News
February 20, 2021
CEO Michael Hopkins is interviewed in this coverage of the first 25 Latin American asylum seekers who were granted entry at the San Ysidro port of entry and will be allowed to stay in the country for the duration of their proceedings. The Jewish Family Service of San Diego received the asylum applicants, who were required to test negative for the coronavirus, and transported them to a hotel in the area so they could quarantine, according to the non-profit's chief executive officer, Michael Hopkins. The group included six families and five individuals from Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Cuba.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune
February 19, 2021
Two years and 21 days after the first asylum seeker was walked back from San Diego to Tijuana under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, a small group of asylum seekers was escorted in the other direction to wait out immigration court cases in the United States. CEO Michael Hopkins said, “This is a really different experience than 2½ years ago, when we got the call on our hotline that moms and kids were on the streets of San Diego.”
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Times of San Diego
February 19, 2021
“We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration and we are optimistic that this is the first of many steps to rebuild our immigration system and restore the asylum process,” said JFS and its partners in the San Diego Rapid Response Network.
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Telmundo 20 - Immigrantes En La Frontera
February 19, 2021
Un grupo de 25 migrantes que cruzaron por la frontera de San Diego y Tijuana estuvieron entre los primeros solicitantes de asilo que se les permitió entrar a Estados Unidos bajo los nuevos cambios de la administración Biden que comenzaron este viernes.
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