The city of McAllen, Texas was forced to build a temporary tent city to operate as a shelter to test and treat migrants for COVID after they cross the border - but the city's embattled mayor says that's not enough to stop the flow of migrants infected with the virus from flooding into his community.
'Initially I didn't see it as a problem because it was under control,' Mayor Javier Villalobos told CBS This Morning. 'I saw no correlation in the increase in COVID in our community and the immigrants because they were isolated.'
'Now I think there's an issue because they're going throughout, positive or non-positive... and we have no authority to stop it.'
Before heading to the COVID testing facility in Anzalduas Park migrants are first processed under the Anzalduas International Bridge, a makeshift Border Patrol 'facility' that's recently come under fire by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Migrants are first brought to a Customs and Border Patrol processing facility under the Anzalduas Bridge
McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos said migrants are being released into his city whether they test positive for COVID or not
Migrants are being taken to an emergency shelter facility in Anzalduas Park, near the cities of McAllen and Mission
The group is urging the Biden White House to close the 'inhumane detention center' and 'outdoor pen' and claims it presents imminent health and safety risks for migrants held there.
'We're calling on the Biden administration to immediately close the site and implement oversight measures to ensure Border Patrol no longer holds anyone under such inhumane conditions,' they said Monday.
The facility sparked outrage after a video emerged last week showing nearly a thousand migrants being held under the bridge.
A Fox News correspondent tweeted drone video with the caption, 'This is the largest group of migrants we’ve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX. Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people.'
New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik called the area an 'absolute catastrophe' after the footage was released.
Anzalduas Bridge runs across parts of the US and Mexico. The ACLU called Border Patrol's facility for migrants there 'inhumane' and a 'pen'
A video appearing to show hundreds of migrants being held under the bridge sparked outrage against the Biden administration for allowing it
More than 7,000 migrants sent to McAllen since February have tested positive for COVID.
Catholic Charities, a nonprofit aimed at helping migrants in these situations, worked with city officials to erect the tent city in Anzalduas Park after the influx of migrants in recent months proved too much for existing infrastructure.
'It's got to a point where that space is not even that really available, because there's so many of them,' Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, told the morning show.
The border city invoked a disaster declaration after weeks of roughly 1,800 migrants per day being left there by Border Patrol officials - some of which have been testing positive for COVID.
Roughly 210,000 migrants were apprehended at the border in July - a 21-year high that earned Joe Biden criticism from Republican governors like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott.
Villalobos said he agrees with fellow Republicans after the drastic influx changed his mind.
Migrants seen camping in the makeshift facility under the Anzalduas Bridge in March
'It is very burdensome for our county, our city - and we don't budget for this, we don't deal with immigration, and we shouldn't,' he said.
One of officials' biggest concerns is that they don't have the authority to keep migrants isolated.
McAllen residents are also angered by the influx of migrants being sent to the community, and Villalobos addressed them in a video last week telling them to place blame on the Biden administration - maintaining that immigration should not be a municipal issue.
He's not the first mayor calling out the president or federal lawmakers over communities strained by the border crisis.
A new report says encounters at the border reached 210,000 in July alone
Laredo, Texas Mayor Pete Saenz said on Friday the city's current arrangement with Border Patrol officials is costing his constituents as much as $8,000 per day - and that pleas for help to Joe Biden's White House have fallen on 'deaf ears.'
'Mind you, if we can't get reimbursed, obviously it's unsustainable and at some point, we've got to stop this and seek other relief,' Saenz told KGNS.
He estimated the city could go 'about a month' without getting paid back.
He added, 'By then, we're hoping, maybe the Biden administration will attend to the border and stop this.'
Saenz accused the federal government of 'not really stepping up' despite his repeat requests for help.
'For months I've been shouting, ''federal government please send resources, resources,'' but so far it's been a deaf ear and it's gotten so complicated and we end up with these crises,' Saenz said.
And not just one crisis - he said the situation in his city now is a 'triple crisis.'
Laredo, Texas Mayor Pete Saenz said his city is now grappling with a 'triple crisis'
Saenz accused the Biden administration of not doing enough to help - adding that the federal government is the only body with enough money and resources to find a solution
'We have a border crisis, a health crisis and a humanitarian crisis - so it's all upon us and we're doing the best we can,' he said.
The new deal involves migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley being processed in Laredo before being transported to a facility leased by the city from a private company.
Laredo would then foot the bill for sending migrants to different cities within Texas.
Saenz said he believes 'there's a good chance' Laredo could eventually be reimbursed and called it 'the best course of action' at least 'at this point in time.'
Saenz said the aim of the arrangement was to send the migrants to 'larger hubs' like Houston and Dallas.
Despite the hefty price tag to taxpayers the mayor also said it's the least expensive route available to the city, against the backdrop of an increased number of migrants coming to the US southern border.
Migrants are bused out of Laredo to other Texas cities at a cost of $8,000 per day to taxpayers - an arrangement the mayor said could go on maybe a month without reimbursement (pictured: Asylum seekers line up to be vaccinated in Baja California on August 3)
Before the agreement was reached Laredo was engaged in a lawsuit against the US to try and stop migrants from being taken to the city.
But after a judge asked for more information, city officials decided there wasn't enough time to go through the lengthy legal pathway and made its deal with Border Patrol.
'We decided that the best alternative for us - the course of action - would be to settle and make this arrangement,' Saenz explained.
He added that the alternative would be letting CBP and nonprofit facilities hit capacity, overflow and release migrants 'in the streets.'
'Of course we couldn't deal with that as a city, I think that would be irresponsible on our behalf to allow that,' the local leader said. 'So we had no other choice but to group these migrants - and we can't force them, but I can assure you all of them want to get their destinations as quickly as possible - so they take these buses.'
Like other local Texas officials, Saenz said it was up to Washington to solve the problem.
The new reported numbers come after record increases in border encounters in the months since Biden took office
'It's a humongous task at this point, but if anyone can do it, it's really the federal government. I mean they've got resources,' he said.
In addition to problems caused by overcrowding officials also about migrants testing positive for COVID being released into the interior as the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc and send the US back to coronavirus infection numbers not seen since before the wide availability of vaccines.
McAllen, Texas Mayor Javier Villalobos said last week that of 1,800 migrants coming to his city daily, 15 percent are COVID-positive.
Critics of the Biden White House blame the administration's weaker enforcement of Title 42 compared to Donald Trump for the number of migrants infected with the virus arriving within the US.
Title 42 was authorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow border officials to turn asylum-seekers away upon arrival in a bid to manage surging COVID cases.
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