The White House is pressuring El Paso, Texas officials not to declare a state of emergency in the face of mass illegal immigration.
Democratic Mayor Oscar Leeser allegedly told a member of the El Paso City Council in a private conversation that the White House has urged him not to declare a state of emergency.
“He told me the White House asked him not to,” Councilmember Claudia Rodriguez told the New York Post.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent speaks with Central American immigrants at the border fence. (John Moore/Getty Images)
A declaration has been expected from Leeser in recent weeks as the city’s immigration struggles have become more prominent on the national level.
At least three of the eight El Paso City Council members have already asked Leeser to make an emergency declaration.
This week, the Biden administration, which has faced enormous political pressure over the nearly two-year crisis, announced a combined border operation with Mexico. That operation involves increased checkpoints and more resources to handle the migrant surge.
Migrants who recently arrived from Venezuela after crossing from Mexico wait to be assigned a hotel room provided by the El Paso Office of Emergency Management on Sept. 21, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
El Paso has launched a new migrant data dashboard that gives a glimpse into the extraordinary numbers the border city is seeing as part of the ongoing migrant crisis racking the southwest border.
The Migrant Situational Awareness Dashboard, available on the city’s website, offers a breakdown of the massive numbers being encountered and released into the community.
President Biden gives a speech before designating Camp Hale as a national monument on Oct. 12, 2022, in Red Cliff, Colorado. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) According to the data, the numbers went from less than 1,700 releases per week into the community during the summer to over 6,800 last week. The number of migrants in CBP custody has also jumped from fewer than 3,000 a few weeks ago to over 4,500. The data show that there are over 1,000 being released into the community each day on average, while the city is providing over 900 meals a day to hungry migrants.
