Despite demands from San Diegan officials that Gov. Gavin Newsom declare a state of emergency for the Tijuana River crisis, the governor’s position stands — the crisis remains a federal issue.
“Our calls for a state of emergency have gone unheeded,” San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre told SFGATE. “I led a letter signed by all 18 mayors and myself when I was a mayor. All 18 cities in San Diego County asked for a state of emergency from him.”
On April 9, Aguirre took to Instagram to plead with the governor to declare a state of emergency over the worsening sewage crisis in the Tijuana River. The long-brewing problem is part of a broader crossborder watershed in which untreated wastewater, sediment and trash regularly flow into California from Mexico, impacting public health and the environment, the California State Lands Commission has said.
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FILE: People visit the beach in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Aug. 12, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
But Newsom’s office has long argued that the federal government is responsible. In a visit to San Diego in 2024, the governor said the declaration “would not have availed us to any real benefit except symbolism and then ultimately frustration that it didn’t mean anything,” according to KPBS-TV. And now, as conditions have worsened to the point where the pollution is visible from space, a growing political clash calls into question who is responsible for the public health crisis.
“A lot of people are reporting being ill, having headaches, sinusitis, allergies, asthma, people who’ve never had asthma before, gastrointestinal illnesses,” Aguirre said. “And most of these people are seeing these symptoms without even going to the beach, which was a huge red flag for us about three years ago, because usually people would fall ill after coming into contact with ocean water.”
A call for action
Aguirre said calling for a state of emergency would enable interagency coordination and expedite permitting for projects that would address the crisis, including addressing infrastructure originally intended to prevent flooding but that is worsening air quality. She also said the county has allocated $2.5 million on temporary solutions, but that by expediting permits, the county could work towards a more permanent solution.
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“The strategy so far of this federal government and the state government, or at least the governor’s administration, has been to have Mexico solve this,” Aguirre said. “… Californians and constituents are being harmed. As the government, we’re responsible for the health, safety, and welfare of our people. I would never in a million years pass the buck to a sovereign nation, saying, well, it’s their responsibility to take care of my constituents.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Diego, Calif.
The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty
Newsom hasn’t ignored the crisis altogether — since 2019, he’s secured $38 million for water quality improvements, and secured a $100 million federal investment in the area’s infrastructure in 2025 — but the governor’s office insists it’s the Environmental Protection Agency’s responsibility to work with Mexico on a transnational border issue. Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, told SFGATE in an email that the wastewater treatment plant is a federal facility for which the federal government is directly responsible.
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“We understand the frustration of this community — because we are frustrated too — and we urge the federal government to take action quickly to help address the impacts of their failed infrastructure and get this community the help it needs, now,” Gallegos said.
But Aguirre said the crisis is a multi-jurisdictional issue involving the California Coastal Commission, the California State Coastal Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Fish and Wildlife Department, and county and city lands. According to the California State Lands Commission, the crisis requires coordinated local, state and federal action to be fully resolved.
FILE: A woman walks over a bridge above the Laureles Canyon channel near the Mexico-U.S. border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Aug. 12, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
“If we had a meteorite hit San Francisco, a meteor destroyed a 10-block radius, harmed 50,000 people — would you say, ‘Well, this is coming from space, it’s space’s responsibility’?” Aguirre said. “It’s the same analogy. Nobody’s denying the fact that this is coming from Mexico and that Mexico has a role to play here and a responsibility, but this is a crisis that is impacting Californians on a daily basis.”
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A decadeslong problem that hasn’t been solved
Alejandro Camacho, a law school professor at UCLA who specializes in environmental, land-use and natural resources law, told SFGATE that management of the Tijuana River is a binational problem that the federal government must resolve, but that an emergency declaration may help expedite action.
“I think it is plausible (although less so with the current Trump administration) that a declaration might be helpful for some things (like air quality monitoring, health screenings, temporary resources, accelerated CDC and FEMA engagement,” Camacho said in an email. “The Trump admin has not been responsive to California requests, but it might create some political and legal leverage in pushing Congress and the White House — a governor’s emergency declaration is a recognized signal in the federal appropriations process. The declaration might also facilitate faster deployment of state funds.”
FILE: The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant operates to treat water and sewage flowing across the border from the Tijuana River in San Diego, Calif., on April 24, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Newsom has pushed the White House for further funding and faster timelines. But under the Stafford Act, a federal law passed by Congress and signed into law in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan, the governor must formally request a federal declaration from the president. EPA spokesperson Julia Giarmoleo told SFGATE in an email that Newsom has not asked President Trump to make an emergency declaration. However, in July 2025, the California Assembly passed a measure, Assembly Joint Resolution 16, which asked President Donald Trump to declare a state of emergency and fund the Environmental Protection Agency’s Comprehensive Infrastructure Solution for the Tijuana River.
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The Trump administration signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2025 and Minute No. 333 in December 2025 alongside the Mexican government “to speed up project timelines and take additional actions to prevent this crisis from reoccurring down the road,” Giarmoleo said. The Trump administration also followed through on a 100-day expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant to prevent 10 million gallons of raw sewage per day from entering U.S. waters.
Giarmoleo said those hastened project timelines could reduce the time to control the sewage discharge by as much as 12 years.
“This has been a top priority for President Trump and [EPA] Administrator [Lee] Zeldin,” Giarmoleo said, “and they will not rest until the raw sewage flow from Mexico is stopped for good.”
FILE: This aerial view shows a treated wastewater river heading to the Pacific Ocean near Real Del Mar in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Aug. 12, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
But Aguirre said this approach overrelies on Mexico.
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“They are placing all of the eggs in the basket of, well, Mexico, committed to solving this upstream. It’s an argument that I’ve been hearing for the better part of the last 20 years that I’ve been working on this,” Aguirre said. “It all boils down to we can’t put the well-being on a completely different nation.”
Aguirre said Newsom has not responded to her latest push since she publicly called on him two weeks ago. However, she said six Democratic candidates for governor have visited the hot spot — including Xavier Becerra, Katie Porter and Tom Steyer.
“All six of them have committed to declaring a state of emergency, and some of them even saying on Day 1,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre has argued that the governor has 52 active emergency declarations, and yet she feels her district has been left behind.
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“We see emergency declarations issued immediately when affluent communities are being impacted, such as Palos Verdes, Santa Barbara and other areas of our state,” Aguirre said. “We’re primarily Latino, working-class border people. And the fact that we haven’t had a state of emergency declared for this crisis is hurtful.”
