A self-employed American who lives in Mexico but works weekdays in San Diego told RedState that a border officer at the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and the San Diego metropolitan area told him that 300,000 Venezuelans passed through to the United States on Wednesday.
“He was definitely frustrated because I got up there, I’m like: ‘Yeah, busy day,’ and he is like: ‘Yeah, 300,000 Venezuelans,’” the man said.
“It was all happening so quickly,” he said. “I kind of came over a little bit of a hill, and so, there’s a bunch of people. Then, I talked to the customs agent, and he said that that was just not even the surface of them.”
Roughly 95 percent of these border crossers were men between the ages of 18 and 60, he said.
The San Diego-Tijuana Smart Border Coalition estimates that there are 200,000 crossings daily, meaning if there were 300,000 Venezuelans on top of the regular traffic, it is an increase of 150 percent.
The self-employed man, who declined to have his name released because he did not want to jeopardize his Global Entry card, said the border officers were so harried that they were just waving drivers through. “He said: ‘Bringing anything back with you?’ I said: ‘No.’ He said: ‘OK.’ And he just waved me on.”
It was a confusing scene with huge crowds of migrants, he said.
“Honestly, I can’t say what is going on,” he said.
“There’s just thousands upon thousands of people attempting to cross with luggage and such. If I wasn’t in such a hurry, I’d have taken more pictures and on the side streets,” he said.
“They were right there as you go through the line, the car line, and the walking line,” he said. “They were right there all getting-gathering to come back into San Diego. I mean, it’s not hidden. It’s out in the open. I mean, everyone can see it.”
It was just one of those days, he said.
“Today, there were definitely some traffic jams, definitely a little bit more than what was being thrown at them,” he said.
“They were waving a lot of us in the cars; they were just waving us through,” he said.
“Today it was just literally just waving people through, and we still had a 25-to-30-minute late wait,” he said.
“In the Global Entry lane, it normally takes 10-to-15 minutes, so that was double where it needs to be,” the self-employed man said. “The other line for regular traffic normally within the app will say that it’s anywhere from 100-to-120 minutes. Today, it was at 180-to-240 for the general regular passport holder lane.”
The border officer was trying to keep things moving, he said.
“Normally they’ll say: ‘Have a nice day, get out of here, thanks,’” he said. “He just went OK and waved everyone on. He didn’t even ask for my identity document. He didn’t even touch it. He was just sitting in his chair.”
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This eyewitness account jibes with reports that Venezuelans have been massing in Tijuana for the previous two weeks.
Being a regular customer of the border crossing has brought him to accept the influx of people coming in across the border, but being told the mass of migrants he saw were part of 300,000 Venezuelans was a shock.
“Do I feel betrayed by the US government? Yeah, on a daily basis. Is the United States still home? Absolutely. I mean, it’s still where my heart is and where my home is, but as far as betrayed, yeah,” he said.
The businessman said it was also a betrayal that it took him 19 months to secure his Global Entry pass, while he heard foreigners secure theirs in 10-to-14 days.
The eyewitness himself said he felt his government failed him as he said the migrants were taken care of better than American citizens with new clothes, new shoes, and backpacks.
“They were well-dressed, well-fed, and had all the supplies they need,” he said.
He said he was motivated to speak up because Americans who don’t live on the border have no idea what is really going on.
“Come visit and have them cross the border and see if they agree with the policies in play,” he said.
“Have them come see it for their own eyes.”
RedState has reached out to Customs and Border Protection for confirmation, but they have not yet responded. We will provide an update when any additional information becomes available.
