The Democratic mayor of a border town in Texas says more federal politicians need to journey to the U.S.-Mexico border to see just how bad the illegal immigration crisis has become.
Mayor Bruno Lozano of Del Rio, Texas told Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s office that “we are sick and tired of the deaf ears” that accounts of the border crisis seem to fall upon, Fox News reported Tuesday.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) talks to reporters as he heads to vote to begin debate on a bipartisan criminal reform bill, called the ‘First Step Act,’ at the U.S. Capitol Dec. 17, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Lozano suggested that the federal government has left border towns hanging out to dry as they try to cope with the influx of illegal immigrants who apparently cross the border, are temporarily detained and then released. He said it’s easy to ignore the situation when politicians are isolated in Washington. (RELATED: Trump: ICE Will Remove Millions Of Illegal Immigrants From The US)
“They need to see firsthand what’s going on. They need to understand the frustrations that the commissioners, or that the city council, the school board, the hospital officials are managing [and] having to deal with,” Lozano said, according to Fox’s account of the meeting between the mayor and Cornyn’s staffers.
The mayor said the small towns can’t cope with large immigration problems because “it is not our purview; it is not our jurisdiction.”
“We’re frustrated. We’re extremely frustrated,” he continued. “Our priorities on the city council are our streets, are our parks, are the economy, are the drive of the community and the places of worship and the places to have leisure activities. It is not the priority to solve immigration.”
But he said Washington doesn’t seem to be listening. “It’s falling on deaf ears, and we are tired of it. We are sick and tired of the deaf ears.”
Lozano’s frustration comes at a time when border patrol agents are reporting being overwhelmed by the numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border. Before he was appointed acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), then-U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan said the situation at the border had reached a “breaking point” as he inspected the El Paso, Texas crossing, according to the El Paso Times.
Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan discusses the border crisis with HillTV, June 4, 2019. HillTV screenshot.
DHS is projecting that if current trends continue, 2019 will be the worst year for illegal immigration from the southern border in a decade. President Donald Trump reached a deal with Mexico this month that could ameliorate that pressure. After warning he would place a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods, America’s neighbor to the south agreed to better police its borders and to dedicate more resources to prevent illegal border crossings. (RELATED: Mexico Releases The Details Of Its Immigration Plan With The US)
CBP reports that since the beginning of June, over 500 people, apparently emigrating from Africa, have been detained around the town of Del Rio.