EAGLE PASS, Texas — Rolando Salinas Jr., the mayor of Eagle Pass, stressed the problems his small town has been facing during the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and how even though Title 42 is remaining in place for now, relief is not being felt.
Monday's press conference at city hall was the conclusion of Texas Governor Greg Abbott's (R) trip to the Del Rio Sector, seeing firsthand the state's efforts to address the over year-long problem through Operation Lone Star and a cooperative security agreement with the Mexican state of Coahuila. While Title 42 is remaining in place for now, illegal immigrants still crossed or attempted to cross the Rio Grande during the morning.
"That is my number one priority, the safety and the security of the people of Eagle Pass, Texas. And right now we don't have that 100 percent because we have thousands of people crossing, from over 100 countries, into our community. We do not know who these people are. I constantly get calls from constituents that are worried because they are groups of people walking through their neighborhoods and that is something that is not normal," Salinas explained.
Salinas said that due to the large number of emergency incidents that involve illegal immigrants that require either the city's fire department or police force to respond, it is drawing resources away from the taxpayers.
"This is getting out of control. We need...more help from our federal officials up there. We invite our President and Vice President to come to visit us here in the beautiful city of Eagle Pass because having thousands of people crossing that river into Eagle Pass everyday, that is not normal, we cannot have that," he added.
“This is getting out of control”: The mayor of Eagle Pass says the influx of illegal immigrants is draining first responder resources on their small town. He also encouraged Biden and Harris to visit the area to see the crisis firsthand. pic.twitter.com/Rxu0NumIAs
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 23, 2022
During his portion of the press conference, Abbott revealed nearby Zavala County has reached out to the Texas Division of Emergency Management to set up a mobile morgue to handle the significant increase of dead illegal immigrants who have succumbed to the hot weather as summer approaches. Abbott promised the state of Texas will continue to do everything in its power to tackle the issue but said they will always be "swimming upstream" as long at the Biden administration encourages illegal immigration through rhetoric and policy.