California parents panic after a group of 20 migrants tried to board an elementary school bus

According to authorities, a group of up to 20 migrants in Southern California tried to get on a school bus filled with children.

According to the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District in San Diego County, the migrants attempted to board buses on two school routes twice this week at the stop near Highway 94 and Cochera.

Superintendent Liz Bystedt said in a letter to parents that on Tuesday, three migrants walked down the middle of the highway and tried to stop one of the district’s school buses, forcing it to drive around the group.

Then on Wednesday morning, about 20 migrants stormed a bus that was picking up students at the same stop.

Parents present said they helped the bus driver make sure none of the migrants got on the bus, Fox5 San Diego reported.

The migrants attempted to board buses along two school routes in San Diego County twice this week – at the bus stop near Highway 94 and Cochera

Nicole Cardinale told Fox 5 that her eight-year-old son’s school bus was among the buses affected this week, describing the incident as “really scary.”

“He said these adults – they were not children – had backpacks on and were trying to get on his bus… He said there were a lot of them.”

Bystedt has announced that for the “safety of students and bus drivers,” buses will now skip stops with migrants nearby and continue to the next stop on the route.

“Please stay (alert) and when the bus passes, please follow it to pick up your child at the next stop,” the superintendent told parents.

The reason the migrants tried to board the buses is unclear, but migrant advocate Pedro Rios told Fox 5 that the heat and mountainous terrain in the area could lead to a desperate response.

The school district reported the incident to the U.S. Patrol, the California Highway Patrol and the San Diego Sheriff’s Office.

“Please stay alert and when the bus passes, please follow it to pick up your child at the next stop,” the school principal told parents.

Nicole Cardinale told Fox 5 that her eight-year-old son’s school bus was affected this week, describing the incident as “really scary.”

The sheriff’s department told Fox 5: “The San Diego Sheriff’s Office was notified of this incident today. We are conducting a follow-up investigation to determine if a criminal offense occurred.”

“The Sheriff’s Office takes student safety issues very seriously and works with the school district to ensure the safety of students and our community.”

According to US figures, San Diego was the busiest corridor for illegal border crossings in April. It is the fifth region in two years to hold this distinction and a sign of how quickly migration routes are changing.

Many migrants say San Diego is the easiest and safest place to cross, constantly checking their phones for messages, social media posts and voice calls that help them plan their route and crossing.

According to US figures, San Diego was the busiest corridor for illegal border crossings in April

It is unclear why the migrants tried to board the buses, but migrant advocate Pedro Rios told Fox 5 that the heat and mountainous terrain in the area can lead to a desperate response.

Part of San Diego’s appeal is that Tijuana is the largest city on the Mexican side of the border, U.S. officials say. This year, people from nearly 100 countries have arrived at Tijuana’s airport, including 12,000 each from Colombia and Cuba, about 6,000 each from Haiti and Venezuela, and thousands more from Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, China and Mauritania.

Migration in San Diego is challenging because people come from a wider variety of countries — including India, Georgia, Egypt, Jamaica and Vietnam — where deportation flights can be expensive and difficult to organize, U.S. officials say. Mexicans who are deported by land nearby, as well as Guatemalans and Hondurans, whose governments have long accepted frequent deportation flights, are less represented there than elsewhere at the border.