Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Border & Immigration

Roundtable: Migrant Girls Sheltering In Convention Center, Anti-Asian Hate

A medical screening station set up inside the San Diego Convention Center for unaccompanied migrant teens sheltering there, March 27, 2021.
Pool photo via CBS 8
A medical screening station set up inside the San Diego Convention Center for unaccompanied migrant teens sheltering there, March 27, 2021.
Hundreds of unaccompanied girls arrived in San Diego from Mexico last week, seeking asylum after a long trek from Central American countries. Most will be here at least 30 days as they are processed for reunification with family members or other placement.

Hundreds Of Migrant Girls Arrive At Convention Center

More than 400 unaccompanied migrant children flew into in San Diego last weekend as part of the Biden administration's effort to get them out of crowded border facilities run by Customs and Border Protection.

The children, all girls, were joined by several hundred more this week. They are expected to stay in the San Diego Convention Center for 30-35 days.

Advertisement

The program is being run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which has contracted with local service groups to provide care, including food, learning and medical care. Several dozen of the children have tested positive for coronavirus and have been separated from the others.

Related: As Migrant Children Arrive, San Diego’s Social Service Providers Step Up

Lee Ann Kim Speaks Out On Anti-Asian Hate

After decades of keeping quiet, years of ignoring or laughing off the insults and dismissals, former local broadcast reporter and anchor Lee Ann Kim was fed up.

She saw that many people in the media believed the mass shooting in Atlanta last week was motivated by sex addiction and not racism towards Asian people. So, she decided to write an op-ed column for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Advertisement

She told host Maya Trabulsi that for an Asian to step up and proclaim her truth in a public forum like a newspaper, to call out racism, to detail insults and indignities suffered throughout her career, was an act of rebellion born of anger.

In fact, the Union-Tribune received 12 such opinion pieces from local Asian-Americans and has undertaken to publish all of them.