Levin Blames ‘Broken Immigration System’ for Oceanside Migrant Crisis

OCEANSIDE, California - Rep. Mike Levin (D-Oceanside) is blaming a “broken immigration system” for the onslaught of migrants flooding the city of Oceanside, despite the representative voting against securing the border.

U.S. border patrol officials released a whopping 1,400 illegal immigrants just within the city of Oceanside and thousands more throughout San Diego County within the last month.

Earlier, this year, Levin voted against the Secure the Border Act, which required an increase in the number of border patrol agents, resume border wall construction, and tighten asylum standards.

Despite wanting looser standards for illegal immigrants to come through the border, Levin is shifting blame for the migrant drops on other issues.

“This week’s street release of migrants in Oceanside represents an ongoing challenge that I am deeply concerned about,” he said. “I’m grateful for the work of the City of Oceanside and local organizations helping to receive these migrants.”

The amount of migrants being dropped off in the area is worrying to some, with border patrol agents dropping them off by the busload at the transit center in Oceanside. In San Diego County, around 18,500 migrants have been released since September 13.

Not all Oceanside leaders are as content with the situation as Levin has been.

"California has an overwhelming amount of the homeless crisis. Now we're dealing with the burden of the migrant crisis. Do we displace our homeless? I'm not displacing our homeless. The federal government needs to address this," said Ryan Keim, Oceanside's deputy mayor.

Levin did not respond to an inquiry for comment on the matter from Reuters.