MISSION, Texas — Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, a Democrat, revealed after being asked by Townhall the Biden administration not only has ignored his invitations to visit the Rio Grande Valley to see the border crisis firsthand, but the administration has completely ignored all their calls for further help.
"As you know I have invited the President to come here, to come and see what the federal government has done to us. They have overcommitted [to] a commitment they can't support. So I would love to see him. And I am extremely disappointed that we've received absolutely zero communication with them and I hope it changes very quickly because evidence [of] the problems that it's causing for our community," Cortez said.
Everardo Villarreal, Hidalgo County Commissioner for Precinct 3, also said he would appreciate it if either President Biden or Vice President Harris came to visit the region.
"I would love for them to come and, obviously, to meet some of our other mayors and leaders in the area to let them know how this is affecting our area and our citizens," Villarreal said.
McAllen city manager Roel Rodriguez said the situation in the Rio Grande Valley is a “crisis” because of the number of people illegally crossing the border and asked the federal government for more help.
Cortez, along with other city and county officials, was providing an update to the new temporary holding site for immigrants released by Border Patrol who had tested positive for COVID-19. The site was needed because Catholic Charities could no longer accommodate the surge of COVID-19-positive migrants in their facility, running the risk of the immigrants being dropped off in the streets of McAllen with nowhere to go and potentially spreading COVID-19 to the border community.
As of Thursday afternoon, there were around 200 immigrants being quarantined within the site. City officials said the maximum capacity for the temporary site was around 600 people.
The city of McAllen revealed on Wednesday Border Patrol had released over 7,000 illegal immigrants who had tested positive for COVID-19 from their custody since February. Last week alone saw 1,500 COVID-positive immigrants had been released from federal custody. Non-governmental organizations have stepped in to provide shelter so the COVID-positive immigrants can quarantine until they test negative for the virus.