It's Monday. I visited a sprawling and stunningly diverse migrant camp that has sprung up at California's southern border. Plus, a close-up look at the homelessness crisis in San Diego. |
 | | A migrant camp in between the border walls that separate San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico.Mark Abramson for The New York Times |
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SAN DIEGO — At California's southern border, two parallel, towering fences stretch for miles, their reddish steel beams cutting through rugged hillsides thick with tall stocks of yellow wildflowers and marking where Mexico ends and the United States begins. |
Around 10 days ago, as the end of a pandemic-era expulsion policy known as Title 42 approached, a migrant camp sprung up between the two border walls, with hundreds of people hoping to be allowed into the United States. I traveled to San Diego and Tijuana last week to report on the sprawling and diverse camp, its existence speaking of America's shifting immigration policies as well as the desperation of migrants from across the world who are searching for better opportunities. |
"There's no other choice," said Azamat Alin, 41, who spent at least $10,000 on a long journey from Kazakhstan to Brazil, and then through Central America to Mexico. |
 | | Azamat Alin, left, traveled from Kazakhstan to Tijuana in the hopes of entering the United States.Mark Abramson for The New York Times |
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Alin had set out seeking financial opportunity and political freedom in the United States. He hadn't expected to spend several nights in a migrant camp without shelter or sanitation. When I spoke to him through the metal bars of the border wall, he was wearing a plastic bag on his head to keep warm and had just spent his last few dollars on a box of Little Caesars pizza that a Tijuana food delivery driver sold him through the wall. |
But he still would have made the journey, he said, had he known that the conditions would be this grim. |
"Everyone is looking at the arrivals at the border, but the root of the problem lies in push factors inside countries of origin that are going to persist," Justin Gest, a political scientist at George Mason University who studies immigration, told my colleague Miriam Jordan. "When crises occur, they generate northbound flows." |
 | | A food delivery worker passed out pizza to migrants on the other side of the border wall.Mark Abramson for The New York Times |
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At the border between San Diego and Tijuana, roughly 1,000 people jumped the first barrier separating the cities last week and then remained stuck behind another wall, as they awaited processing by U.S. officials. The area between the two border walls is technically on U.S. soil but is considered a sort of neutral zone. A Colombian man in the camp told me that he had paid $1,500 to smugglers who sawed a hole in the fence on the Mexico side for him, his partner and his toddler to climb through. |
Reporters aren't able to enter the camp, but we crowded on the San Diego side to speak to migrants through the wall. I saw hundreds of families there, huddled together for warmth under Mylar blankets, sharing protein bars and bottled water. Some had fashioned tents out of tarps and black plastic garbage bags. |
 | | A Colombian mother combed her daughter's hair inside the migrant camp.Mark Abramson for The New York Times |
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A mother brushed her daughter's long brown hair. A father chased his giggling toddler through the trash-strewn patch of dirt. |
I had never observed such a diverse group of people in one place, with migrants from Angola, Russia, Guinea, Venezuela, Turkey, Pakistan and dozens of other countries. They wore styles and clothing from all over the world: straw sun hats, hijabs, tank tops, ponchos and kofias. |
The meager supply of food and water birthed new businesses — delivery drivers on the Mexico side sold fried chicken, loaves of bread and bottles of Coke through the wall — as well as a striking system of order within the camp. |
 | | Customs and Border Protection officers handing out water bottles to migrants.Mark Abramson for The New York Times |
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The Africans in the camp — from Ghana, Somalia, Kenya, Guinea, Nigeria — selected a tall Somali man, who communicated with aid groups about the number of sanitary pads and blankets they needed that day. The Colombians had their own leader; so did the Afghans, the Turkish and the Haitians. |
The system emerged organically as migrants sought to ease tensions among groups fighting over limited resources, according to Adriana Jasso, a volunteer with American Friends Service Committee. |
"People are cold, hungry, desperate, destitute, nervous," she told me. "It's a dire situation, to say the least." |
 | | Erin Schaff for The New York Times |
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If you read one story, make it this |
Enjoy all of The New York Times in one subscription — the original reporting and analysis, plus puzzles from Games, recipes from Cooking, product reviews from Wirecutter and sports journalism from The Athletic. Experience it all with a New York Times All Access subscription. |
 | | Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times |
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- Motherhood after 40: Raising children in your 40s can be wrenching, rewarding and sublime, but it also comes with unique triumphs and challenges. The New York Times recently asked mothers who had children after 40 to share their experiences. Read their stories.
- Gloria Molina: The transformative Latina leader with many firsts to her credit, including the first Hispanic woman elected to the State Assembly, has died at 74, The Los Angeles Times reports.
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 | | Sunset at the Hayward Regional Shoreline park in Heyward.Jim Wilson/The New York Times |
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Today's tip comes from Jennifer Russell: |
"Living in the Bay Area means access to our wonderful East Bay Regional Parks. They are particularly awesome in spring with wildflowers, newts, luscious green hills, trails for every skill level, soaring birds, expansive views, rushing creeks and so much more. My favorites are Briones, Tilden and Castle Rock." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
 | | Daniel Dorsa for The New York Times |
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And before you go, some good news |
The City Nature Challenge is an annual contest that calls on people worldwide to take and submit photos of plants, animals and insects in their backyards and neighborhoods. |
Originally started in 2016 by the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the contest is intended to help people connect with nature while also documenting and celebrating biodiversity. |
In the 2023 City Nature Challenge, which was held in late April, more than 66,000 people around the world captured over 1.87 million observations — more observations than ever before. |
The most observed species worldwide was the Mallard duck. In Los Angeles County, it was the Western fence lizard, followed by the western honey bee. In the Bay Area, it was the California poppy. |
Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya |
Briana Scalia and Allison Honors contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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