MSNBC's José Díaz-Balart went to El Paso, Texas, reporting on the border crisis. He talked with migrants as well as Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, who called for more "direct engagement" from the White House.
Escobar recently requested more resources from the federal government to assist local governments in handling the surge of migrants at the border.
Díaz-Balart said he saw a lack of "urgency" from the federal government on the evolving humanitarian crisis.
Díaz-Balart said, "Washington needs to deal with immigration, and they haven't since 1986. That was the last comprehensive immigration reform that passed in this country ... I just don't see — and maybe I'm wrong — I don't see the urgency."
He said, "I see the urgency of the NGOs [nongovernmental organizations. I see the Red Cross; the plane that brought me here was filled with Red Cross volunteers. I see local officials here. I see National Guard. I just don't see urgency by the federal government.
"Am I wrong? Where's FEMA [the Federal Emergency Managament Agency]? Where are the organizations? Where are the people just knowing that these are men, women and children who are asking for asylum, the legal right to ask for asylum?" he asked.
Escobar praised FEMA and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for assisting in resources for El Paso but called for legislative action. However, she pointed to "mostly Republicans" for stalling bipartisan reform.
"Should the president be here, do you think?" asked Díaz-Balart.
Escobar responded, "Absolutely." The president recently said he wasn't going to the border because there were more important issues to deal with.
"I think absolutely the president should be here, and I think everyone should be here. But more importantly than the president actually being here, I want Congress to act," Escobar said. "I would like the State Department to be even more robustly engaged on this Western Hemispheric issue, because this is going to take a lot of work. It's going to take legislation."
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