Added Feb. 10, 2025
New Realities Force Nonprofit to Pivot from Migrant Shelter Services
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.
“We’ve been preparing for these changes in federal policies and enforcement,” said CEO Michael Hopkins. “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. We’re also continuing to collaborate with our community partners to explore new ways to offer assistance.”
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 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.
At the same time, needs are increasing for immigrants and undocumented residents and for vulnerable members of our community. JFS will continue providing robust pro bono immigration legal services for the most vulnerable cases, including unaccompanied minors and adults facing deportation; free immigration legal services and education for 12 community colleges and universities in the region; and renewals for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients (DACA or Dreamers), along with JFS programs and services available to the community at large, including for food, aging care services, case management and more.
In the past six years, the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services has assisted more than 248,000 people seeking asylum – providing temporary shelter, food, case management, medical and legal services, and travel coordination to reunite people with their loved ones across the U.S.
Your gift to the JFS Welcome the Stranger Fund ensures San Diego remains a welcoming place for those in search of a safer life—free from violence and persecution.
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.
In October 2018, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) abruptly ended a program known as “Safe Release,” which helped asylum-seekers connect with friends and family in the U.S. as they waited for their court date. Left on the streets of downtown San Diego, migrant families were left vulnerable to crime and risked straining County resources by adding to our expanding homeless population. The San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) filled this critical gap in government assistance by serving as an emergency respite shelter for asylum seekers. By mid-November 2018, ICE began coordinating with the SDRRN to drop-off migrant families at the SDRRN Migrant Shelter each day.
SDRRN Migrants Shelter Services, operated by Jewish Family Service of San Diego, continues to provide case management, travel assistance, nutrition services, medical screenings, and financial support.
All of this work is done with public health as the top priority, in coordination with UCSD Health.
For the latest data, view the latest infographic in the above section.
JFS continues to provide high-quality pro bono immigration legal services in the following areas:
SDRRN Phoneline: Call the San Diego Rapid Response Network at (619) 536-0823.
Immigration Pro-Bono Legal Assistance: For non-emergency immigration legal assistance inquiries, please call (858) 637-3365 or email [email protected]. This line is staffed by the legal team at JFS – give us a call today!
For media-related inquiries, please contact J. Walcher Communications at (619) 295-7140 or send an email to [email protected].
