Mesa, AZ Mayor John Giles (R) said Sunday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that he had been “impressed so far” by the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis.
Giles said, “You know, I’ve been the mayor for six years here in Mesa, so I am a veteran of the last border surge. And so we are very nervous about the surge that we see in refugees that are crossing the border. I’ve been impressed so far with this administration. I had an opportunity to talk with Secretary Mayorkas about a week ago. I told him the experience that we had a couple of years ago, and he was very aware of it. So we’ve had boots on the ground from the administration here in Phoenix and in Mesa.”
He continued, “We’ve explained to them that there are a lot of compassionate people in our community, faith groups, and NGOs that are willing to partner with the federal government to respond to this. But the cupboards are bare because, over the last two years, they’ve been asked to shoulder this problem as the federal government really wasn’t capable of doing it without assistance.”
He added, “So far, we’re getting good answers to the questions we’re asking. So far, it looks like FEMA and other resources are being brought to help communities like mine that are close to the border.”
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