Mayor addresses federal plan for migrant families in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser issued a statement Wednesday addressing his partnership with the federal government regarding the handling of migrants passing through the Sun City.
“Any process in which the federal government could expedite processing of asylum seekers and the consideration of work permits would be welcome by the City of El Paso. We have conversations with all our federal partners on the humanitarian crisis we are facing on a daily basis. In those conversations, increase in hotel rooms for sheltering was agreed upon. The reason nothing proceeded on that front is because we had a large surge in asylum seekers which eliminated the ability to reserve any additional hotel rooms for any other purpose than to handle the surge at the time. The City of El Paso never agreed to any program in which migrant families would be subject to home curfews or ankle monitoring while under our care. While we are aware that this happens under federal care, I did not support those conditions under our care and never will. The federal government has been a good partner for us, providing much needed federal funding to address the challenges we have faced during various surges of asylum seeker crossings through a broken immigration system, and we will continue working with all our federal partners on this important effort for our country.”
Mayor Oscar Leeser
In his statement, Mayor Leeser references the concept of a federal program in which certain migrant families would need to wear ankle monitors and abide by a curfew while in El Paso. The Biden administration proposed such a program. ABC-7 is working to learn whether the administration is still planning to use that program.
