El Paso, Texas, is plagued by 1,500 illegal migrants daily. Border Patrol agents along just one sector of the southern border are encountering approximately 1,500 illegal migrants each day, despite ongoing controversies over transporting a fraction of those numbers to more liberal areas in the United States.
“In recent days,” Customs and Border Protection agents have seen approximately 1,500 encounters per day, many coming from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
This is part of a larger pattern noticed along the border. In August, there were over 203,000 migrant meetings, with over 157,000 being unique encounters (as opposed to routine catch and release). Since last year, the number of unique meetings with Venezuelan, Cuban, and Nicaraguan migrants has increased by 175%.
Agents have rescued many migrants in the sector, including 13 migrants who were trapped in a vehicle without oxygen. El Paso investigators detained two people with “significant” criminal backgrounds and gang ties in seven days, interrupted a stash house and performed many rescues.
Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez stated that the incidents demonstrate the complexity of our border environment and the determination of our Border Patrol Agents to adjust operationally as necessary.
Last Monday, Fox News reported that hundreds of migrants were gathered beneath a bridge in El Paso, with local facilities overburdened – and CBP forced to release migrants near shelters and bus stops.
The 1,500 meetings each day far outnumber those dispatched by Republican governors to liberal areas around the country. Texas has been busing migrants to New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., all of which call themselves “sanctuary cities.”
Gov. Greg Abbott has dispatched 8,100 migrants to D.C. since April, 2,700 to New York City since August, and less than 800 to Chicago since August. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis provoked uproar among Democrats earlier this month when he flew 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, prompting the White House to accuse him of treating migrants as “chattel.”
Democrats have accused Republicans of deceiving migrants and using them as political pawns, something the governors have rejected.
The liberal cities have stated that their systems have been overwhelmed by the volume of people and have requested federal assistance while criticizing what they see as a harsh decision by the Republican governors. The governors, for their part, have highlighted the gap in numbers and stated that they are advocating for greater attention to what border cities and states are facing.
“Texas’ waterlogged border communities are now getting some relief, and, more significantly, the scale of this ongoing disaster is finally getting the national attention it deserves,” Abbott wrote in a recent op-ed. “Americans are now witnessing a shocking national security disaster that the President refuses to acknowledge.”
As a result of the city’s overwhelming population, El Paso has moved to bus migrants, with the mayor dispatching buses of migrants to New York City and Chicago. Since the end of August, it has bused about 2,500 migrants to New York City and around 150 migrants to Chicago.
According to the city’s Democratic mayor, many migrants are from Venezuela and do not have sponsors in the United States who can assist them. We have almost half of the individuals today who don’t have a sponsor; they don’t have money, so we’re helping and working on getting them where they want to go, Mayor Oscar Leeser said on ABC’s “This Week.”
When asked why Leeser isn’t receiving the same level of criticism as the Republican governors, New York City Mayor Eric Adams replied it’s partly due to communication. That Leeser office advised that they were sending the migrants to New York beforehand.
Governors Abbot, Ducey, and DeSantis have all advised that the border is an issue. The volume of immigrants flowing into their states far outpaces the number they are exporting to other states, and it is a crisis in those states, too. Ironically, the Biden administration is stepping up to help democratic sanctuary cities but not helping cities like El Paso, Texas.