SAN DIEGO (Updated Feb. 18, 2025) – Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) is working to meet the evolving needs of the community in response to recent and anticipated federal policy changes. With a deep commitment to its core value of “Welcome the Stranger,” JFS is focusing its immigration efforts on providing pro bono legal services and community support resources. On Jan. 20, 2025, the federal government ceased use of the CBP One application, which allowed migrants to request asylum at U.S. ports of entry. With migrants no longer able to use the CBP One application, the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) Migrant Shelter Services, operated by JFS, has not received new asylum seeking families and individuals released from short term federal custody into our care. Due to these changes in federal funding and policy, the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services will be paused until there is better understanding of future community needs.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego and the Center for Jewish Care at JFS are excited to open the next round of scholarship applications for Jewish students in the local community pursing higher education — including college, university, graduate or technical school.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) CEO Michael Hopkins is a 2024 Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. RTFH is honoring Hopkins with the award for his tireless efforts to combatting homelessness in San Diego County.

The California Welcoming Task Force is a binational coalition dedicated to re-envisioning how the U.S. can welcome people seeking asylum safely and expeditiously at our border by coordinating across sectors: humanitarian, legal, health, advocacy and communications. We must efficiently welcome people seeking refuge and ensure people have access to a fair and organized process if the U.S. is to continue championing itself as a defender of human rights. Jewish Family Service of San Diego makes a statement within this press release.

President Donald Trump froze the federal funding that allowed resettlement agencies to support newly arrived refugees. Michael Hopkins, CEO of Jewish Family Service of San Diego, said that his organization received a stop work order and is fundraising to support the 22 recently arrived families in its care. That includes a family of six from Afghanistan who arrived the day before the stop work order, Hopkins said. The father of the family had worked with the U.S. military, he said.

Faced with a halt in federal funding and the closing of the border to refugees, Jewish Family Service of San Diego is shutting down its shelter and shifting focus to legal support of asylum seekers.
CEO Michael Hopkins said in a statement received Saturday that following the Trump administration’s suspension of the CBP One smartphone asylum-filing application on Jan. 20, no refugee individuals or families have been released to the shelter. In addition, $22 million in promised federal funding has not been received, leading to future layoffs of the shelter staff.
“While there are no longer individuals or families seeking asylum released from short term federal immigration custody to our shelter services, we are seeing increased needs for immigration legal assistance and other social service supports to vulnerable San Diegans,” Hopkins added.

Jewish Family Service said that once the layoffs are finalized in April — the law requires 60 days notice for mass layoffs — it will cease operations of its San Diego Rapid Response Network migrant shelter services. The organization said in a statement that its transition shelter — which provided medical screenings, food, case management, legal support and travel coordination — has received no new migrants since Inauguration Day, when the Trump administration ended use of the CBP One app.The organization also said it has not received any of the $22 million it was awarded last year by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) is pausing its Migrant Shelter Services due to recent federal immigration policy changes and the cancellation of federal funding. While JFS remains committed to serving immigrants and refugees, the organization is shifting its focus to bolstering pro bono legal services and continuing vital community support programs.