El Paso, whose mayor has declared a state of emergency, is in a "dire situation" because of the "hurricane of migrants" that have crowded into the city, Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district covers more than 800 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border in West Texas, said Sunday.
"This is something you do when there's a hurricane, a fire, or an earthquake," the Texas Republican said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "What is happening is it's a hurricane of migrants, and everyone is impacted."
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said he called a state of emergency to give the city's authorities resources and ability to shelter the overwhelming number of migrants, and Gonzales said Sunday the city is facing the same situation as Del Rio did about a year ago.
"I was just in El Paso a few days ago, and what I saw at the migrant center I had never seen before," he said. "I have visited the processing center there many times. What I saw were hundreds, over 500 migrants in a pod — they call them pods — essentially a large cell that holds about 100 people. There's one bathroom, and the odor is terrible. And there are eight pods in there. And so those are the good conditions."
More than 1,000 migrants were waiting outside the center, along with people waiting elsewhere.
The lawmaker shared video footage of the center and said he visited it because he wanted to be able to show the truth of the situation and to let the Border Patrol agents know they have not been forgotten.
"It's not about politics," he said. "It's not about you know, trying to create this image that isn't there. This is the reality. These are the facts. We're not even at the worst of it yet. Hundreds of people stuck in a small area are not good for everyone. What I also saw were people without socks and jackets. It's going to be in the teens later this week. It's a very sad situation all the way around."
Gonzales called for an end of the "finger-pointing" and instead for a solution.
"There are some things that the administration can immediately do to alleviate this stress," he said. "They can re-implement a couple of programs that made sense, PACER and the HEART program. That's essentially having immigration judges at the border, meaning you get your asylum case heard in days, not years."
Gonzales said he worries that if something isn't done, "we may be shutting bridges down," which will harm El Paso's economy.
"El Paso produces $138 billion worth of trade," he said. "If you shut down one day of that trade and commerce, that $60 million, it'll impact everybody, not just those that live along the border."
The Biden administration is asking Congress for $3.4 billion to prepare for the surge, and Gonzales agreed the money is needed but said throwing money at the problem won't solve it.
"You can have an unlimited amount of soft-sided facilities. The problem is enforcing the laws that are already on the books."
The migrants, meanwhile, are coming to the United States for the most part for economic reasons, but that doesn't qualify them for asylum, he said.
"Work visas make sense to me," said Gonzales. "A pathway to citizenship, amnesty, that is dead on arrival. What people have tried before has no chance of working."
Meanwhile, hearings to impeach Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will "absolutely take place" after Republicans take control of the House on Jan. 3, but that isn't going to help El Paso now, said Gonzales.
"I take impeachment extremely seriously," he said. "Impeachment, that's a long process. The city of El Paso needs help today, not a year from now."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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