A California town saw a mass of migrants. Then something changed : NPR

The day after visiting the camps in Jacumba, NPR headed west to Otay, a 3,500-foot mountain that separates Mexico from San Diego. We were tagging along with a group called the Borderlands Relief Collective, a humanitarian group that leaves water and first aid for migrants.

The landscape in Otay is distinctly different from Jacumba.

“It is an arduous, dangerous trek,” explained volunteer Joseph Hauser. “Where we’re gonna go is a path typically taken by people who are not looking to be found.”

Hauser has been doing this work for about a year, but said “I’ve only really started running into people when we come out here in the last month, month and a half.”

It was still dark out when we started driving up the mountain, but we barely made it a few miles before being intercepted by two women and a toddler. They were from Nigeria and Guinea and had been hiking for around five hours. The mother was sobbing her feet were starting to give out. The 3-year-old was quiet. It was freezing, and the aid workers worried the three of them might be in danger of hypothermia.

via www.npr.org

Otay Mesa and Jacumba are south of me about 10-15 miles. I’ve noticed a small uptick in CBP activity, but not a huge amount. I used to hike in this area. Lately, not so much.