Migrant camps draw ire from residents result in cool reponse from police

San Diego canyons are teeming with illegal migrant camps, prostitution and numerous fire hazards. A week after a prostitution ring was uncovered, San Diego residents are still complaining about the illegal traffic through local communities.
Week-long expensive helicopter flyovers have produced no results with the San Diego Police Department. One reason for the lack of results from the helicopter flyovers is many migrants have covered their tents with camouflage tarps which make them nearly impossible to spot from the air.
It definitely takes officers on the ground to scavenge the canyon area and walk the trails that lead to the tents and small shacks high on the hillsides or deep brush. Hiking the canyons is treacherous and often requires hands and knees maneuvers. This journalist spent six-hours hiking 10-miles inside the canyon on Saturday in the treacherous canyons.
“We uncovered many recent open-fire pits, trash areas and migrant campsites. It appears they (illegal migrant squatters) are moving from one location to the next,” said J.C. Playford a video photo journalist.
The collision course of home owners and migrants is about to erupt again. Evidence of fire hazards and prostitution will push this canyon-living community to move again. A pair of female child jeans were recovered from the prostitution site and pose the difficult question concerning underage Mexican girls possibly being trafficked in to service at the migrant camps which has occurred in the past all over San Diego County.
Although there didn’t appear to be any substantial police presence in the canyons on Saturday, there was one fire truck cruising the fire break roads and two patrolmen on horseback. Neither official wished to comment about the migrant story.
The Rancho Villas Apartment Complex sits directly on the ridge above the canyon and has been hit hard by the illegal population that calls McGonigle Canyon home.
“This is a huge problem, my husband is the Manager of the complex and has called the police several times a week because these illegals have been loitering and drinking on the property,” Stephanie Jahn, McGonigle Canyon resident said.
“The first time he called the police, they (police) asked for a description once he said they were Hispanic migrants they refused to come. The second time a guy was literally passed out in the parking lot, he called and stated there was an injured man on the property, they came, called an ambulance, but again no charges.”
Jahn explained that she has her cars broken into constantly and nothing is done. “This is personal to me.”
Most want to know who owns the land in order to pressure them to do something about the subsequent crime taking place in the community. It is many residents’ understanding that they can and should go after the owners for maintaining a nuisance property.
There are also reports that local grocery store, Stater Bros., has a problem with shop lifting that is directly related to this large migrant population.
While witnessing the migrants living situation it can pull at the heartstrings; a reality check is clearly needed. All agree the migrant population are making $8 to $10 an hour, they lay claim to the idea they cannot afford to pay rent and send money home to their home country.
Can American citizens do the same thing? Even if they wanted to pitch a tent at a campground they are paying $20-$30 per night.
If they plan to immigrate legally into this country, they must assimilate and that requires obtaining a legal residence, unless a property owner decides to let migrants live on their land and that rarely happens.
It is worth pointing out that it is illegal to camp in the canyons. The landowners are currently looking the other direction because the migrants continue to call McGonigle Canyon home.
The reason these property owners do not allow the migrants to live off their land freely is because the migrant workers come with a host of problems.
These life-threatening issues include; fire hazards from propane or open-flame fires, sanitary issues, drinking, environmental destruction, pollution of the streams and finally illegal prostitution.
While local authorities blame the lack of low-cost housing the migrants admit they will not take advantage of it because they want to send all their money to their families back home. This is hardly assimilating to the American way of life.
The migrants also claim they only do work Americans will not perform, with the exception of agricultural work, this is untrue. It was the African-American community who lost construction jobs to the Latino workers.
If anything the Latinos have an advantage over Americans who are poor, because Americans must live on the minimum-wage job minus taxes; most Latinos make minimum wage or more and pay little to no payroll taxes.
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A dozen concerned citizens and anti-illegal immigration activists walked the canyon neighborhood over the weekend to hand out flyers. “We blanketed about 200 homes with information and contact flyers,” Jeff Schwilk of San Diego Minutemen said. “We spoke with dozens of concerned residents.”
Most residents continued to be worried about fire hazards inside the canyon. “After a three-year drought that canyon could go off like a torch at any time and the city of San Diego is doing virtually nothing to remove the migrant camps and fire danger,” he said.
One home owner voiced specific concerns that deemed to be quite alarming. “A Long-time resident stated Border Patrol will not go in the canyon due to the belief that if they do roundups of the illegal aliens, the migrants will torch the canyon in retaliation,” Schwilk said.
If this claim is true, residents living near McGonigle Canyon have plenty to be afraid of and they could be the next victims in this tragic story.


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