The mayor of a small Texas city along the border between the United States and Mexico is “pleading” with the Biden administration to stop releasing illegal aliens into his city while the state’s power grid remains down.
Bruno Lozano, the Democratic mayor of the city of Del Rio, Texas, made the request on Wednesday via a video uploaded to his municipality’s YouTube page. In the video, which is meant to be a candid and direct appeal to President Joe Biden, Lozano argues that his city cannot accommodate further illegal aliens.
“I am pleading and requesting with you to please put a halt to any measures regarding the release of immigrants awaiting court dates into the city of Del Rio and surrounding areas,” the mayor states. “We do not have the resources available to house and accommodate these migrants within our community.”
“If you do send these individuals into our community, we will be forced to make a decision to leave them without resources under these dire circumstances,” Lozano adds. “I am asking to please stop, please make another plan for this federal issue.”
The mayor’s plea comes as below-average winter temperature across the Southwest have impacted Texas’s power grid. As such, most of the state has been dealing with power outages that have affected everything from grocery stores to municipal water services. Nowhere has the impact been more felt than in rural communities, especially those along the Rio Grande River.
In Del Rio, alone, the power has remained out since at least Tuesday. The outage has prevented the city from being able to replenish its water system, leaving most residents without not only power but also running water.
Texas’s power outage has only exacerbated the immigration issues that have long plagued the towns on the U.S.-Mexico border. One particular issue that became most notable during the Obama era was the practice of “catch and release.” The practice essentially means that captured illegal immigrants are released into U.S. communities while they await a hearing in immigration court. The concept has long been favored by many on the left as an alternative to immigration detention and deportation.
With border communities already under immense strain, mayors like Lozano are calling for a pause in the practice.
“If you’re going to allow these individuals into our community, I respectfully ask that you provide the means and the supplies necessary to accommodate them safely under these extreme circumstances,” Lozano said Wednesday. “Do to the crisis we can not provide these supplies.”
It is unclear if the Biden administration, however, will comply with the request. The White House did not return requests for comment on this story.
Lozano’s plea comes as the president and his staff have begun preparing their immigration agenda for congressional action. On Thursday, the White House unveiled the final version of its comprehensive immigration bill, which includes a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing within the U.S.
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