Jewish Family Service provides robust immigration legal services in addition to humanitarian and respite shelter for asylum seekers who have been released into the United States by the Department of Homeland Security. Since our founding in 1918, JFS has been committed to Welcoming the Stranger–we’ve assisted and connected thousands of refugees to housing, employment, and education. We know this work is essential to ensuring San Diego is a more humane, prosperous, and beautifully diverse place to live.
For more information visit the San Diego Rapid Response Network website at rapidresponsesd.org.
Support Our Work
Your gift to the JFS Welcome the Stranger Fund ensures San Diego remains a welcoming place for those in search of a safer life—free from violence and persecution. To donate, click here.
If you are interested in volunteering, please email [email protected].
The San Diego Union-Tribune feature on March 26, 2021 takes an in-depth look at a day in the life of our work to receive families and adults who are coming into the United States from the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program as well as asylum seekers released by Border Patrol to the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) Migrant Shelter Services. As of March 25, the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services had received more than 2,000 people compared to 490 in all of February. This article illustrates our emphasis on welcoming and providing care for the most vulnerable of asylum seekers with public health as our top priority. The article captures the hopes and dreams of these families as they seek a better life.
Based on the current COVID-19 pandemic, asylum seekers released by the government will stay in individual hotel rooms for their short stay instead of joining other families in a congregant living setting at a shelter. In partnership with the San Diego Rapid Response Network, JFS will continue to provide case management, travel assistance, nutrition services, medical screenings, and financial support for migrant families.
Every week, the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services welcomes new families. Click below to see our weekly stats.
January 17 – 23, 2022
January 10 – 16, 2022
January 3 – 9, 2022
December 27, 2021 – January 2, 2022
December 20 – 26, 2021
December 13 – 19, 2021
December 6 – 12, 2021
November 29 – December 5, 2021
November 22 – 28, 2021
November 15 – 21, 2021
November 8 – 14, 2021
November 1 – 7, 2021
October 25 – 31, 2021
October 18 – 24, 2021
September 13 – 19, 2021
September 6 – 12, 2021
August 30 – September 5, 2021
August 23 – 29, 2021
August 16 – 21, 2021
August 2 – 8, 2021
July 26 – August 1, 2021
July 19 – 25, 2021
July 5 – 11, 2021
June 14 – 20, 2021
June 7 – 13, 2021
May 31 – June 6, 2021
May 24 – 30, 2021
May 17 – 23, 2021
May 10 – 16, 2021
April 26 – May 2, 2021
April 19 – 25, 2021
April 12 – 18, 2021
April 5 – 11, 2021
March 29 – April 4, 2021
The California Welcoming Task Force is a binational coalition dedicated to re-envisioning how the U.S. can welcome people seeking asylum safely and expeditiously at our border by coordinating across sectors: humanitarian, legal, health, advocacy and communications.
November 2018 – June 2020
In October 2018, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) abruptly ended a program known as “Safe Release,” which helped asylum-seekers connect with friends and family in the U.S. as they waited for their court date. Abandoned on the streets of downtown San Diego, migrant families were now left vulnerable to crime and risked straining County resources by adding to our expanding homeless population. The San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) filled this critical gap in government assistance by opening temporary shelters in local churches. By mid-November 2019, ICE began coordinating with the SDRRN to drop-off migrant families at our shelter each afternoon once they had been legally processed.
Through these collaborative efforts with the SDRRN, the JFS Migrant Family Shelter was established and has kept thousands of migrant families off San Diego’s streets, ensuring they did not further strain the capacities of service providers who were assisting the region’s ever-growing homeless population.
Between October 2018 and June 2020, the shelter served more than 23,000 asylum seekers – all family units – and provided beds, food, clothing, health services, legal aid, and transportation assistance to help families connect with loved ones across the country as they continued their legal process to gain asylum.
Starting in June 2020, services for asylum seekers released by the government transitioned from a congregate shelter space to individual hotel rooms by JFS as part of the services it offers under the San Diego Rapid Response Network. We will continue to prioritize the needs of asylum seekers through targeted transition services and legal assistance, ensuring that No One Stands Alone In Our Community.
JFS continues to provide high-quality pro bono immigration legal services in the following areas:
Immigration Emergency Hotline: If you or someone you know is experiencing an immigration emergency (raid, arrest, checkpoint, and/or harassment) call the San Diego Rapid Response Network hotline at (619) 536-0823.
Immigration Pro-Bono Legal Assistance: For non-emergency immigration legal assistance inquiries, please call (858) 637-3365 or email [email protected] This line is staffed by the legal team at JFS – give us a call today!
Asylum seekers arriving in our community are in desperate need of your help. They have traveled thousands of miles to flee violence, persecution, and other hardships in their home country in search of a safer, better life. The most impactful way to address this issue is with responsive and flexible funding. Your financial support will change lives.
Make a Donation
Online donations can be made through rapidresponsesd.org or the donate button below.
Checks can be mailed to:
Jewish Family Service of San Diego
C/O: SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services
JOAN & IRWIN JACOBS CAMPUS
Turk Family Center
8804 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92123
For media-related inquiries, please contact J. Walcher Communications at (619) 295-7140 or send an email to [email protected].
