Monday May 8, 2023
By: Ryan Hill
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Hundreds of migrants arriving at our southern border. One of them who we spoke is Roble from Somalia.
“It’s so simple. Everyone knows what’s going on in my country. There’s no freedom. There’s no democratic nothing. Just trying to look for better life,” Roble said.
ABC 10News sat down with Mustafa Sahid, the director of operations for the Somali Family Services.
“We’ve seen a growth in the amount of asylum seekers that are coming to us for services. These are asylum seekers that are coming directly to us,” said Sahid.
He said the stories that their case managers are hearing are heartbreaking.
“The situations that people dealt with, whether it’s through violence, people taking advantage of them,” Sahid said.
Roble told ABC 10News he encountered mafia in areas between Colombia and Panama as well as in Guatemala and Mexico, adding they had stolen from them.
“The thing that they always express to us is that they’re the lucky ones. They were the ones to actually make it here,” Sahid said.
The organization told ABC 10News once asylum seekers come to them, many are looking for housing and legal services.
But Sahid said they’re hearing there’s a long waitlist for those services, and they may not get them. He also said they have to describe what’s next to the asylum seekers.
“A lot of them are concerned about where their situation will actually end up considering they’re not able to acquire the legal support that they’re looking for in the time that they need it,” Sahid said.
He’s personally heard stories of folks feeling getting to the states would be the end of the struggle.
“And also, we are noticing a lot of, you know, language capacity. So, a lot of times when they’re coming there’s a lot of things that are falling through the cracks due to miscommunication,” Sahid said. “And I think that’s one of the main reasons that a lot of asylum seekers seek us out. Because they just see the name and the title of our organization and believe we would be able to help them bridge that gap.”
Sahid said there needs to be more collaboration between governments and humanitarian organizations.