Residents of El Paso, Texas are split on whether the recent surge of migrants across the southern border is cause for concern.
“I think it’s great that Joe Biden let everybody in,” Michael told Fox News. “This country could use workers of all kinds. Right? Teachers, Venezuelan restaurants. And I think it’s a good thing for America.”
El Paso is used to migrants filtering through, but residents have noticed an increase in the last few months. Carmen told Fox News that she’s “very disappointed” with the city’s response following reports of migrants camping out on city streets, as local homeless shelters ran out of room.
“I think they need to find a way to get things going better for [the migrants] and for us,” she said. “They’re just sleeping everywhere and anywhere, and there’s no more room on the homeless shelters anymore. So, you know, it’s pretty bad.”
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has faced criticism for busing migrants to left-leaning cities. But Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, argued that the city is sending migrants where they want to go.
“We would never use people as pawns to send them anywhere else,” Leeser said. “We want to send them to say where they want to go, where they got friends and family.”
Michael told Fox News that he supports El Paso’s busing of migrants to other cities, as long as the migrants have family or other connections in those places.
“If they don’t, then they should provide some kind of shelter right here in El Paso until they can get on their feet,” he said.
The U.S. has been seeing massive migrant numbers since the Biden administration announced that it would be lifting “Title 42,” a controversial border policy implemented by former President Donald Trump back in March 2020 that allowed the border agency to turn migrants away.
The swarm of illegal immigrants in nearby border cities has also resulted in property damage, stolen vehicles, gun violence, and other issues resulting from migrants crossing into their counties, many of which are desolate and have sparse populations.
Abbott has argued that border towns in Texas are overwhelmed, and officials in liberal cities should face the realities of the southern border crisis. The state has sent dozens of migrant-filled buses to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago in recent weeks.
