HOUSTON, Texas–Furious protesters in Murrieta, California have made it clear that they oppose the federal government’s apparent desire to send busloads of illegal immigrants from South Texas to their area. Many Murrieta residents claim that the town is being targeted unfairly for political reasons–some even assert that the Obama Administration is attempting to dump the immigrants in “small town America” to force immigration reform.
Last week a large group of protesters blocked a bus full of migrants from arriving at a “housing facility.” That vehicle turned back, and several more busloads of illegal immigrants was expected to enter the town on Monday. Breitbart Texas broke the news that federal agents planned to bring riot gear and shields to ensure the successful delivery of the immigrants. Those plans, however, were thwarted by protesters yet again.
At this point it is unclear if federal authorities still plan on sending migrants to Murrieta–whatever the case, many of the town’s residents remain vehemently opposed to the idea.
John Henry, a Murrieta resident since 1991, has been protesting the illegal immigrants’ arrival for the past week. He told Breitbart Texas, “This is a small town–it’s mostly conservative–and the federal government knows that. The main reason a lot of us are out here protesting is because we do not want these people being dumped into our small town where we do not have programs or the resources to take care of them properly.”
Authorities apparently intend to house the migrants in a Murrieta-based Border Patrol station–Henry claims the facility is not equipped to handle a large number of individuals.
“In the Border Patrol station where they want to take these people, there are only five holding cells,” Henry said. “There are no showers, and there’s only one toilet in each cell. There’s really no place to give them hot food and no beds. There’s nothing here for them–we literally don’t have any way to take care of these people.”
He added, “We additionally don’t have any places for these people to go after they are processed.”
Subsequent to spending a relatively short amount of time in a processing center–where taxpayer subsidized benefits such as education, recreation vocational training, and legal counsel are administered–most of the illegal immigrants are set free on U.S. soil. They promise to appear in court for an immigration hearing at a later date, but most of them never show up.
Henry, and many of the protesters joining him, believe their town was unfairly targeted as a destination for the migrants. Some believe the busloads are being sent to small, largely conservative towns, like Murrieta to send a political message.
“The administration thinks that if it floods our streets, in small town america, they can force us into immigration reform,” Henry said. “These immigrants should not be here. The only reason that they are coming here is for political reasons.”
Jeremy Oliver, a resident of Temecula, California–a town that neighbors Murrieta–said that the local residents are typically very welcoming, but that in this instance they are being taken advantage of.
Oliver told Breitbart Texas, “If this was one busload of refugees, this town would come together and take care of these kids. Even if it was 10 busloads they would do it. But when you ask the government, ‘When is it going to end?’ they wont tell you. So how do you deal with the problem they wont tell you the extent of it?”
On June 4th Breitbart Texas’ Managing Director Brandon Darby broke the news that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would be relocating illegal immigrants from Texas to California. Within moments of that story being published, the official Twitter account of the San Diego CBP tweeted at Darby, insisting the report was “erroneous” and asking for it to be removed from the internet.
Days later the San Diego CBP deleted the tweet from their official account. Subsequent reports, outlining plans to fly immigrants to Southern California, proved CBP had indeed planned the relocation all along.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate.