Officials in El Paso, Texas, have requested their mayor to declare a disaster as the city is overwhelmed by 2,000 new migrants Withdraw funds from vital services including daily, your police and fire departments.
El Paso City Council members Sissi Lizarraga, Claudia Rodriguez and Isabel Salcido wrote a letter Wednesday demanding action to Mayor Oscar Lesar as immigrants, largely from Venezuela, border Texas’ sixth-largest city. At the flood, the population 700,000.
“We are writing to urge you to issue a disaster declaration for the city of El Paso in connection with the current large-scale influx of migrants,” the letter said. kdbc-tv. received by,
“With the unprecedented surge … we need to take this action now.”
The city of El Paso offers shelter, food and . spending $300,000 a day for Immigrants Seeking Bus to New York City – With the blessing of the mayor Eric Adams – as well as Chicago.
The city can spend up to $10 million in the month of September alone. Report El Paso Matters,
The city acknowledged that resources are being taken away from its departments – including first responders – to care for migrants.
“It’s the fire department, the police department, the public health — almost every department is being affected right now,” Robert Cortinas, El Paso’s chief financial officer, told El Paso Matters.
The council members’ letter continued: “Our most fundamental responsibility is to ensure public safety,
“These are now funds coming out of our common fund. This is not only destabilizing but unfair to our community.”
“Without the resources, both financial and logistical, that would be available through an emergency declaration, our ability to keep the city of El Paso safe for residents and expatriates alike is being put at grave risk.”
City Representative Claudia Rodriguez told The Post that on Tuesday she saw 50 El Paso firefighters working at the Immigration Reception Center instead of being available to answer calls from El Paso citizens.
He also noted that a disaster declaration would shift the burden of responsibility to the state and federal government and to migrants away from the city of El Paso.
City leaders scrambling to deal with the highest level of migrants the city has ever seen, the city so overwhelmed immigrant camps on its streets,
“We are being very reactive to this when we should have been proactive in knowing that there was a surge,” said city councilor Rodriguez.
“We should have declared that disaster declaration long ago and had the resources available, [then] We wouldn’t be in this situation.”
The mayor of El Paso did not respond to the Post’s request for comment but Rodriguez told The Post that he had not received a response from the mayor’s office.
“Before the letter, I spoke [the mayor] Several times, asked him, urged him to declare a state of emergency and for some reason this is not happening,” Rodriguez said.
On Wednesday night, the city shared on social media that it has already been reimbursed by the federal government for some of the costs of the immigrant increase.
“We have received some reimbursement from the federal government and also $2 million for future expenses. Pending reimbursement we expect to receive a total of more than $2.5 million,” city tweeted,
Rodriguez said the money would not be enough to sustain the growing number of immigrants seeking asylum.
“That money is only going to last 10 days the way it is going,” she said.