Eagle Pass, Texas, Mayor Rolando Salinas, a Democrat, blamed President Joe Biden for the flood of illegal immigrants that have overrun his town and led to a surge in crime.
Salinas made the remarks during a Thursday interview with Erin Burnett on CNN’s “OutFront” when asked about how serious the situation was in his town.
“First of all, this is definitely a very serious situation for the city of Eagle Pass,” he said. “We’re a city of about 28,000 to 30,000 people. And the last couple of days, we’ve had an excess of 5,000 people crossed from Piedras Negras, Mexico, into Eagle Pass, Texas.”
He said that tons of people were being let loose into the community and that not only has it increased safety concerns, but they’ve had to close their international bridge, which brings in millions of dollars every day.
“Well, fortunately, we have the help of our state partners, DPS, the governor, our federal agencies, Border Patrol,” he said. “They are helping, and they are controlling the situation, as best as they can. But what’s disappointing is that you have all of these thousands of people just walking in, without any consequence whatsoever.”
“So, the word is getting out. It’s kind of come one, come all type of approach. And you have all these people coming. There is no consequence. And I just want to say that I think that this is unacceptable. It’s a shame that we don’t have immigration reform, and a solution to prevent situations like this.”
Burnett asked Salinas if Biden bears “some of the responsibility for the crisis” that is unfolding in Eagle Pass.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’ll believe 100 percent he does,” he said. “I haven’t heard from anybody in the administration. The president hasn’t put out a statement, the vice president, I haven’t heard from anybody.”
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“Nobody has bothered to call me, anyone in the city staff saying, ‘Hey, this is the federal government. We know what you’re going through. We’re worried about you. This is our plan of action,'” he continued. “Nothing. We’re here abandoned. We’re on the border. We’re asking for help. This is unacceptable.”
“Please, just enforce the laws that are on the books. We are a nation of laws. That’s all I ask for, is that it shouldn’t be like this. We should be able to enforce laws. If you want to come here — good, come legally. A lot of people have in the past,” he concluded. “It takes a lot of money and years to do it the right way. And it’s not fair for those people that now we have thousands of people coming in, without one single consequence. It’s just not fair.”
WATCH:
Eagle Pass, TX Mayor Rolando Salinas: Biden is to blame for the border crisis and no one from his administration has called us as thousands illegally cross into the city. We're here abandoned. pic.twitter.com/xZBMYL8MNe
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 21, 2023