San Diego County says Calif. officials drop land request for migrant structure after 'tent city' dispute

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EXCLUSIVE: San Diego County said on Thursday that California state officials have rescinded a request for land to build what the county initially described as a "tent city" for migrants coming across the border – terminology that state officials disputed, and the county later said was used "inadvertently."

The controversy began in an email this week, sent to farmers by the County of San Diego’s Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures, which said the state is looking for agricultural land for a project that would include services for migrants coming into the country.

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"The Calif. Department of Food & Agriculture is working with California Office of Emergency Services on finding and renting/leasing on a long-term basis any private, fallowed ag[ricultural] land to build a tent city in the county for the immigrants coming across the border," the email, seen by Fox News, says. "The State plans to provide wrap-around services as well."

The email requests responses to the San Diego department by May 14. A spokesperson for San Diego County referred Fox News to state agencies, saying that the County Department of Agriculture Weights & Measures (AWM) "was only recently asked to reach out to growers about available land."

"AWM was asked to inquire about available unused ag land for the purpose of a tent city for the immigrants coming across the border," the spokesperson told Fox News.

However on Thursday, the California Office of Emergency Services said in a statement to Fox News that there are no plans for a "tent city," although the office does support "intake hubs" for migrants coming across the border.

"The state is actively coordinating with federal immigration officials, as well as local non-profit, community-based organizations, to protect the health and well-being of migrants and our border communities alike. There are no plans from the state to create a tent city," a spokesperson told Fox News in an email.

"Our work includes supporting intake hubs, which will serve as triage sites for migrant adults and families after they are released from federal custody. These sites will provide basic wraparound services including COVID-19 testing, medical screenings, and the coordination of transportation," the spokesperson said.

Former San Diego city council member Carl DeMaio described the purported plan, as described by San Diego County in the email, as "outrageous."

"It is dangerous and it should be immediately rejected, and this is coming on a pattern of catering to illegal immigrants at the expense of US taxpayers here in San Diego," DeMaio, a radio host and current chairman of Reform California, told Fox News.

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Meanwhile, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said he was "working with county staff to make sure this DOES NOT become a reality."

But on Thursday afternoon, San Diego County sent a new email to the initial recipients, saying the request from California officials was now rescinded – and that the use of "tent city" was used "inadvertently."

"Please disregard, as the State has rescinded the request," the email said. "Please note, the term ‘tent city’ was inadvertently used to describe a soft structure build out intended to support a ‘Testing, Vaccination and Resource Center’ in the County. Open land was never envisioned or intended to be used as temporary living space." 

"In summary, the State has advised the County they are no longer pursuing a search for agricultural or open land," the email said.

San Diego has faced a number of migrant controversies in recent months. In March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that 1,400 child migrants would be housed in the San Diego Convention Center as part of the response to the migrant surge at the southern border.

Additionally, San Diego politicians have reportedly mulled a $5 million legal defense fund for illegal immigrants facing deportation.

Officials along the border as a whole encountered more than 172,000 migrants in March, including a record number of unaccompanied children -- and figures for April are expected to show similar numbers of migrants.

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HHS has opened a number of new facilities in response to the crisis, as the numbers in custody have surged from around 11,000 at the end of March to more than 22,000 at the beginning of May.

The Biden administration has touted how it has cleared out Border Patrol facilities, such as the one at Donna, Texas -- but most of those child migrants have been transferred to HHS. Neither HHS nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment about their potential involvement in the San Diego project.

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DeMaio said he believed that any potential plan for a "tent city" would face significant opposition from the public.

"I think that not only will there be, if they go through with this proposal, a huge public backlash, but I anticipate it will become a major political issue and be litigated in the courts," he added.