https://nypost.com/2024/04/15/us-news/californians-arming-themselves-ov
er- border-issue/
EL CAJON, California — Customers packed Cory Gautereaux’s small gun
store northeast of San Diego on a recent Friday afternoon.
Many of the people buying pistols at Firearms Unlimited California
said they were concerned about the massive number of migrants being
released onto the local streets after the area became a hub for the
crisis at the border — which is just 25 miles from El Cajon, a
Southern California suburb of 105,000 people.
“My wife and I have had home defense guns for many years. Recently,
though, with all the stuff that’s happening south of the border and
all the people coming over, my concerns have broadened,” said Keith Carnevale, one of the shop’s customers, who’s armed his entire family.
“I don’t think it’s just the people that are coming over to try to
find work, I think we have a lot of hostile people that are coming
over with ill will, ill intent that will potentially cause chaos.”
Roughly 125,000 migrants have been released onto the streets in the
San Diego area since September, which has been unsettling for Firearms Unlimited California owner Cory Gautereaux and his customers.
After Texas worked to seal off large swaths of its border with Mexico
with razor wire and boots on the ground, more migrants started making
their way to California.
The Border Patrol saw a daily average of 1,200 migrants crossing into
the San Diego region illegally during the week ending on Feb. 4, while
some of Texas’ busiest sectors averaged just hundreds of crossings
during that time period, according to government data obtained by CBS
News.
In Texas’ Del Rio border area, migrant apprehensions dropped to 200 a
day the week of Feb. 4 — compared to the 2,300 daily crossings in
December.
“The problem for people that live around the gun store is the street dropoffs,” Gautereaux said.
The US Border Patrol has begun busing migrants who claim asylum into
the community and releasing them onto the streets, he said.
“That’s driven business to us,” he added.
Keith’s son, Anthony Carnevale, who came with him to buy a gun of his
own, said the area is just not equipped to handle the huge numbers of
street releases.
“I don’t think it’s just a matter of the numbers of undocumented
people, I think a lot of people are concerned about the state of our
own government to be just allowing this and why,” Anthony said.
Local Sharie Finn told The Post that the border issue “1,000%” plays a
role in her decision to buy a gun, pointing to the Glock pistol in her
bag.
She and her husband, Wally, run an organization that helps families
find their missing loved ones — some of whom have been victims of
predators who were in the country illegally.
“I have that with me everywhere I go,” Sharie Finn said.
Migrants continue to be released onto the streets in and around San
Diego because Border Patrol processing centers in the region have more
than twice as many as they can hold, according to agency data recently obtained by The Post.
Migrants thank Biden for letting them in as US Border Patrol’s San
Diego processing centers reach eye-popping 245% capacity
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells acknowledges his residents don’t feel safe
because of the flood of illegal border crossers in his city.
“We see the massive amounts of violence that’s happening, a lot from
the immigrant situation, but a lot from the homeless situation as
well,” Wells told The Post, adding: “People are frightened and I do
believe they’re arming themselves more.”
The Border Patrol can only hold migrants for up to 72 hours, and the challenge of processing them quickly while also conducting background
checks has become overwhelming.
In one case in March 2023, border agents arrested and released Afghan national Mohammad Kharwin, 48, whose name appeared on the terror
watchlist.
The FBI notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he was
a suspected member of the US-designated terror group Hezb-e-Islami,
but that didn’t happen until almost a year after his release.
ICE arrested Kharwin on Feb. 28 in San Antonio, Texas, but an
immigration judge subsequently ordered his release again without
knowing of his alleged ties to a group that has carried out numerous
deadly attacks on US soldiers in Afghanistan.
The Department of Homeland Security told The Post that Kharwin is in
custody.
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