El Paso mayor on surge of migrants in the city as COVID-era immigration order expires

Cities on the U.S.-Mexico border are preparing for Thursday's lifting of Title 42. It's a pandemic-era policy that allowed officials to turn away more than 2.7 million migrants over the last three years. Ahead of that rule change, El Paso has declared a state of emergency. Local leaders estimate nearly 2,500 people are already in the city, waiting to travel to other parts of the country.

Shelters are full, leading many to sleep in makeshift encampments on the streets. Joining me now is the mayor of El Paso, Oscar Leaser. Mayor, welcome to the NewsHour. Thanks for joining us. You're three days away from Title 42 ending. What are you expecting to see in El Paso, in terms of an increase in the number of people arriving, and are you prepared to manage that? FOREIGN MINISTER ELPASO, Mayor of El Paso, El Paso, United States Well, I keep telling everyone that we need to prepare for the unknown. And the unknown is, what number is really going to be coming over on May 12th after Title 42 has been lifted? I did travel to Juarez, Mexico last week and kind of went to the shelters and looked at the shelters.

And really the shelters were empty at the second largest shelter over there. There was only 20 people in there as of last week. So then we went out and looked at the streets and where they are. And sure enough, there's a lot of them. There's probably 10, 12,000 people waiting to come in. And they don't want to go in the shelters because they don't want to miss that opportunity to come into the United States prior to Title 42 expiring. And then we also have, we were told that there's a caravan about another 3,500 coming that will arrive prior to Title 42 expiring.

Now, they're all coming with the understanding that if they do get in, that it will be in, that they will have political asylum. And that's the people that have charged them and helped them and gotten them to over here has actually given them the information that's not really the accurate information. So you have declared a state of emergency. What does that allow you to do differently? I mean, what else do you need that you don't have now in the way of support? Well, the state of emergency gives us the opportunity to do temporary sheltering. We opened up two schools that have been closed for a while. And so we're able to get the two schools and turn them into temporary sheltering. And that's to help the people that have gone through the proper immigration system and help them get to their next destination, get them temporary sheltering.

They'll be in the shelter between 24 to 72 hours. And that'll also help us to activate our civic center and then use hotels that actually, to help the families and the young kids. It's something really important that one of the things we do here is make sure that we treat people the way we want to be treated and make sure that we help our asylum seekers that have gone through the immigration process, unite with their family, unite with their friends and be able to go to the destination of their chores. And reason why we're able to do that is once they go and get an A number, which is when they go through the immigration process, then they're free to go and go as where they want to go. And we want to make sure that we help decompress the states in the system and help people move forward. Mr. Mayor, are you coordinating with other mayors in other cities? I mean, as you mentioned, and we know most people who come through El Paso or other border cities are trying to make their way somewhere else.

Have other cities reached out, stepped up, said we can help you, you can bus folks to us? Yeah, you know, one of the things that we do have, Office of Emergency Management, and they're working with additional NGOs across really the United States, because it's correct. They're not coming to El Paso, Texas. They're coming to the United States. And so that's one of the things that we want to continue to work with additional NGOs, additional cities, to make sure that they can help us and we can help our asylum seekers. So, as you know, President Biden recently made the decision to send 1,500 U.S. troops to the border in support operations.

Still, we hear from a number of Republicans, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, among them that argue the U.S. has what they call open borders, that the administration hasn't done enough to deter migration and also to enforce border security. Do you agree with that? No, the borders are close today. The borders will continue to be close after Title 42 is expires. But it's really important to know that we already have 2,500 military troops that are within the southern border and they're sending additional 1,500 to help, but not to administer the immigration laws, but to help with administrative, to help, you know, the border patrol do their job, because it's important to know that they're not here to implement the immigration law, but to support the current border patrol, because there's not enough to be able to do what they need to do. So, it will help them do a lot of the administrative work that needs to be done.

Mr. Mayor, we reported earlier on the car crash in Brownsville. I know officials there are still looking for a motive that reports that the man who drove his SUV into a crowd of recently arrived migrants there had shouted anti-immigrant remarks. We have not been able to confirm any of that. Officials have not. But I'm curious, because they saw the same increase in migration as you have been seeing in your city. Are you at all concerned about something similar happening there or about this vulnerable population that's now sleeping out in the streets of your city? No, no, no.

When our hearts go out to the people that lost their lives and their families. And number two is part of that we had already had close some of the streets to make sure that the asylum seekers were protected and our community is protected. So, we have already closed the streets. We will continue to close streets as needed to be, because one of the things that's really important to us that we do protect asylum seekers, but also make sure that our community stays protected. Mr. Mayor, you were born in Mexico. I don't know if most people know that.

You moved to the U.S. as a child. You're the first elected mayor in Al Paso history who was born outside of the U.S. So, you know very well the unique nature of border communities. I wonder, when you step back and look at how we're talking about this moment, how we're facing migration increases across the U.

S. southern border, how you view this conversation as it's unfolding? Well, I think that, you know, I view it the same way I think a lot of people view it, that we have a job to do as a border community. And as a border community, we have responsibilities and to work with the federal government. Secretary of New York is President Biden, administration has really worked really close with us to make sure that we get the resources. They have given us funding to continue to be able to provide a service. So, that's been very important. So, you know, as a border community, we have a responsibility.

And I look forward to continuing to make sure that we do the right thing. Again, not only for our asylum seekers, but also the community of Al Paso, which public safety has been our number one priority. That is the mayor of Al Paso, Oscar Leaser, joining us tonight, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your time. We appreciate you. Please come back soon.

No, thank you. And you have a wonderful day, ma'am. The end of.

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