‘We Simply Moved the Problem’ : Encinitas, County Chase Migrants From New Site

Officials from Encinitas and the county Health Services Department toured a newly created migrant workers’ camp Thursday that lies near an abandoned landfill and began tracking down the property owners, who will be cited for allowing the migrants to camp there.

Gloria Carranza, the city’s migrant issues coordinator, said that Encinitas and the health department will begin issuing citations for health and code violations as soon as the property owners are identified. The camp sprang up last week when dozens of migrants, who were forced out of the Valle Verde camp on El Camino Real across from La Costa, moved to the area near the landfill.

Encinitas City Manager Warren Schaefer said the biggest property owner is, curiously, probably the County Public Works Department, which owns the landfill. Other owners include the San Diego Gas & Electric Co., which owns some power easements, and a bevy of private individuals.

Using Same Tactics

The health department is using the same tactic it employed to shut the Valle Verde camp. Citing a host of health and safety violations, the county ordered the Hunt Brothers of Texas, owners of the Valle Verde property, to clear the camp and raze it.

As with the Valle Verde camp, the county and Encinitas officials are reacting to mounting complaints from local residents about the illegal camp by the landfill. Residents have inundated city officials with complaints about illegal structures, trash and human feces at the campsite.

Carranza, who has been dealing with the migrant issue since she was appointed to her post last summer, said some complaints are tinged with racist overtones.

“I have detected feelings of racism in the comments of some people who call me. They sometimes speak bitterly of Mexicans and the people who are camped there. . . . I know that it’s an emotional issue, and I try to comprehend their feelings. Still, some of their feelings have a hint of racism,” said Carranza.

Special Council Meeting

City officials have responded to the complaints by scheduling a special meeting Monday of the City Council.

“We’re bringing several key players and agencies together Monday night, and, together with community input, we hope to find ways to approach the problem,” Schaefer said. “But we have to find a solution to the problem, not just move it to another hillside or canyon. That’s what happened in this case. We simply moved the problem (from Valle Verde) to the landfill. And the public said, ‘We don’t want it here. Move it someplace else.’ ”

But both Schaefer and Carranza emphasized that the problem of finding a housing alternative for the migrants is not solely a city responsibility.

“We need resources from other government agencies if we’re going to find housing alternatives,” Schaefer said.

Carranza said officials found 23 encampments near the landfill, mostly plywood hooches and crude lean-tos covered with plastic sheets. Three prefabricated plastic sheds also were found. She said officials could not get an accurate count on the number of people living in the camp because there were only a handful of them around Thursday.