On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Eagle Pass, TX Mayor Rolando Salinas stated that you have “thousands of people just walking in without any consequence whatsoever. So, the word is getting out. It’s kind of a come one, come all type of approach” and stated President Joe Biden does bear part of the responsibility for the crisis in the city. Salinas also pleaded, “just enforce the laws that are on the books.”
Salinas said, “First of all, this is definitely a very serious situation for the City of Eagle Pass. We’re a city of about 28 to 30,000 people. And in the last couple of days, we’ve had in excess of 5,000 people cross from Piedras Negras, Mexico into Eagle Pass, TX. It’s become a big concern for the community. A lot of people are frustrated. A lot of these people are being let loose in the community, walking around. And it’s just a big concern for the City of Eagle Pass, not only safety-wise, but also our local economy is taking a hit because, because of this crisis, we’ve had to shut down bridge number one, our international bridge, which so many millions of dollars flow through this bridge. We depend on the tolls of the people that pay those bridge tolls. And it’s just an emergency situation. That is why, as Mayor for the City of Eagle Pass, I decided to declare a state of emergency for our city, because we’ve never seen this before. This is not normal. And we shouldn’t have to be going through a situation like this in the United States or here in Eagle Pass, Texas.”
He added that “you have all these thousands of people just walking in without any consequence whatsoever. So, the word is getting out. It’s kind of a come one, come all type of approach and you have all these people coming. There is no consequence. And I just want to say that I think that this is unacceptable. It’s a shame that we don’t have immigration reform and a solution to prevent situations like this. I don’t know why things have come to this.”
Host Erin Burnett then asked, “When you say that there are no consequences and that is causing more of this, does the President bear some of the responsibility for the crisis in your city?”
Salinas answered, “I’ll be honest with you, I believe 100% he does bear some responsibility for this crisis.”
He added, “Please, just enforce the laws that are on the books. We’re a nation of laws. That’s all I ask for is that it shouldn’t be like this. We should be able to enforce laws. If you want to come here, good, come legally. A lot of people have in the past. It takes a lot of money and years to do it the right way. And it’s not fair for those people that now you have thousands of people coming in without one single consequence. It’s just not fair.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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