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El Paso declared a state of emergency over the ongoing immigration crisis in the border city.
Mayor Oscar Leeser said he finally decided to make the statement as the situation begins to threaten the safety of residents and migrants alike. He said 2,500 migrants arrive in El Paso daily and those numbers are likely to multiply as Trump-era border legislation expires this week.
The statement comes just days after Leeser tried to walk out of a press conference after being pressed by reporters about why he had not yet made an emergency declaration.
Last week, Denver also declared a state of emergency in preparation for the expiration of Title 42, which Trump signed into law in 2020 ostensibly to hinder cross-border transmission of COVID-19 but was largely used to help at border control.
Mayor Oscar Leeser said he finally decided to make the statement as the situation begins to threaten the safety of residents and migrants alike.
Migrants cross the Rio Grande near El Paso to surrender to US border control and seek asylum
Migrants at the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Pasado on December 17
Having previously said that the additional funds and resources available from an emergency declaration would not make a difference to El Paso’s immigration crisis, Leeser finally conceded.
“We feel that today is the right time to declare a state of emergency,” he said in his announcement, noting that the increasing number of immigrants arriving daily was beginning to overwhelm the city’s resources.
“I said from the beginning that I would call him when I felt that our asylum seekers or the community were not safe,” he said.
With the statement, Leeser called on the state to provide additional staffing at its migrant housing facilities, state law enforcement to provide protection for migrants and Texans alike, and transportation assistance to move migrants to other cities.
A large crowd of migrants lines up to enter the El Paso shelter set up at the Sacred Heart Church
Migrants pass through a fence at the US-Mexico border on December 16.
Immigrants receiving donated clothing outside Sacred Heart Church in El Paso
The declaration coincides with the expiration of Title 42 this week, which President Trump implemented in March 2020 to stop the spread of disease into the US from across the southern border.
Title 42 allowed the US to remove migrants without considering them for asylum. More than 2 million people have been expelled since the rule was enacted.
The end of Title 42 is likely to stall border processes and complicate the current crisis.
Leeser said that when Title 42 expires on December 21, the number of immigrants coming to the city could double.
We know that the turnout on Wednesday will be incredible, it will be huge. On Wednesday our numbers will go from 2,500 to 4,000, 5,000, maybe 6,000,’ he said.
Migrants preparing to cross the US-Mexico border where a bus awaits to transport them
Sleeping accommodations inside the shelter of Sacred Heart Church in El Paso
The number of migrants entering El Paso daily is expected to increase this week
Fernando García, director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said migrants currently perceive Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, as a relatively safe place to approach the border amid the dangers of extortion and organized crime. in Mexico.
“This funding and shelter is not the answer, it’s a Band-Aid for a really bigger problem,” said Leeser, a Democrat elected in 2020.
“It’s something that we’re going to have to work on with (the United Nations) and other countries, to resolve a situation … that is bigger than El Paso again and has now become bigger than the United States.”
In recent days, El Paso has seen hundreds of migrants cross the shallows of the Rio Grande into the US, lining up along a border wall to approach immigration authorities and request refuge.
News crews from the local El Paso station KVIA he also claimed to have seen ‘five or six people’ coming out of a sewer in the Segundo Barrio, an area not far from the border.
A local resident told the station that illegal immigrants are now using the US sewage system through openings in the Rio Grande to enter.
The end of Title 42 is likely to cause border processes to bog down and compound the current crisis.
We know that the turnout on Wednesday will be incredible, it will be huge. On Wednesday, our numbers will go from 2,500 to 4,000, 5,000, maybe 6,000,’ said Mayor Lesser.
Migrants prepare to cross the US border through the Rio Grande
Last week, Leeser bizarrely tried to back out of a news conference after being questioned about the city’s worsening immigration crisis.
The mayor said of his resistance to declaring an emergency: ‘We were able to get the funds without having to. We can also get some help from the state without having to do that. Declaring a state of emergency, for me, was not an option. Being able to work with our partners was a great option.’
He then argued that state officials had also told him that declaring a state of emergency was not necessary and would not make a difference.
However, later in the press, City Manager Mario D’Agostino disagreed, making it clear what the differences would be: “That statement allows the state to open up additional funding outside of its normal budget.”
Leeser then ended the press conference and took the microphone from him.
The mayor said the city was handing out outdoor toilets and water stations while offering overnight hotel rooms to migrants, whose numbers are outgrowing capacity at a county reception center and the region’s network of shelters with religious and non-profit groups.