With a surge of illegal immigration overrunning the southern U.S. border, the Biden administration finds itself scrambling to house thousands of migrants. One option, in addition to the White House approving $86 million for hotel rooms, is the San Diego Convention Center.
The San Diego facility is housing unaccompanied migrant girls and, while hundreds of migrants have been released within the U.S. without being tested for COVID-19, the girls have been tested and at least 82 of the more than 700 transferred to the center have tested positive, Fox News reported, citing the Department of Health and Human Services.
The news adds insult to injury, as the same standards applied to American citizens are not being applied to the migrants. BizPac Review reported on Tuesday about the clear double standard at play, with San Diego providing the girls with in-person schooling at the center, even though local children are still not back in school.
Upon arriving at the convention center, 59 migrant girls had already tested positive, and another 23 girls tested positive at the facility, according to Fox News. The center will reportedly continue testing every three days and is housing those who have COVID-19 in a separate area. Staff from Rady’s Children’s Hospital are on-site and treating the girls.
The case rate is higher in the center than in San Diego County, which has reportedly had roughly 1,800 new cases out of an estimated population of more than 3 million in the past week, the network said. This amounts to a .0018% infection rate for residents, compared to a rate of about 9% within the convention center.
Scott Davison, who is suing California to try and force a quicker school reopening, told Fox News the rate at the center exceeds the state’s own guidelines.
“That’s a case rate of 10,933 per 100,000 – or 437 times higher than the case rate threshold that schools are allowed to reopen in California,” Davison said. “Threshold for reopening in California is 25 per 100,000.”
Yet, the migrant girls get in-person learning from San Diego Unified School District teachers, while local students are subjected to an online-only format.
“We see that it’s safe, yet we have teacher unions resisting this,” Jonathan Zachreson told the network. “You see this from San Diego. Up in Oakland, vaccinated teachers are refusing to come back…even though their school district is wanting it to happen.”
Zachreson has organized a petition to reopen schools across the state.
“Another concern that hasn’t really been discussed – these same teachers are volunteering at this facility, [where there are] exponential COVID rates, much higher than what was allowed for guidance for in-person instruction,” he observed. “Is there a risk that these teachers may even get infected at the facility and then bring it to the schools, where they are going to be working?”
A SDUSD spokeswoman confirmed with Fox News that the teachers are volunteers. She also cited both a “constitutional right” and a “moral obligation” to offer schooling to the migrant girls.
“The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) is providing the educational program for the unaccompanied migrant children who will be staying at the San Diego Convention Center through July. All children in California, regardless of immigration status, have a constitutional right to education. We also have a moral obligation to ensure a bright future for our children,” the spokeswoman told Fox News via email.
“The educational program will include English language development and social-emotional learning opportunities. The teachers who are participating in the program are doing so voluntarily, and the program is following a COVID-19 screening protocol based on guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” she added.
The spokeswoman said San Diego schools are currently on their spring break.
“Our teachers have volunteered to help. We are not paying them in any way because caring for children is central to who they are as human beings,” she said. “The power of their example should inspire us all — and hopefully many others will be inspired to show these girls that we are a compassionate community.”
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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