Thursday 19 May 2022 08:58 PM El Paso plans for state of emergency as Biden administration waits to see if ... trends now
The Texas border city of El Paso is considering whether to declare a state of emergency over the immigration crisis, it emerged on Thursday.
The declaration, which the city council is due to vote on next week, would allow the city to tap state and federal funding for the border crisis.
'We are extremely grateful to all our partners including the NGOs, the County, State and Federal leaders who understand the extraordinary collaborative lift that is required,' Deputy City Manager Mario D'Agostino told Fox News.
The number of migrants trying to cross the border has surged since President Joe Biden took office.
It is expected to rise further when Biden lifts the Title 42 public health order which allowed rapid deportations under COVID-19 emergency measures.
A tent city has been build in Eagle Pass, Texas, as authorities prepare for an influx.
In El Paso, Ruben Garcia, head of the city's immigrant shelters, said families cold end up on the streets if extra space was not added soon.
Haitian families cross the border to El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, on Mexico May 17, 2022. The city is bracing itself for the impact of Title 42 being lifted
Asylum-seeking migrants from Mexico and Central America walk near the San Ysidro Port of Entry border crossing with the U.S., in Tijuana, Mexico May 5,
In late April Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas released a 20-page memo detailing a six-part strategy to handle the onslaught of migrants after Title 42 ends. Expanding migrant processing capacity, like building tent structures, is one prong
'If Title 42 is lifted, you're going to see a wave and it's clearly going to surpass what NGOs can do,' Garcia told the New York Post.
It remains an 'if' while a Trump-appointed judge in Louisiana hears arguments for and against dropping the measure.
States led by Arizona, Missouri and Louisiana claim the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is violating the Administrative Procedures Act because they did not provide a notice-and-comment period for the plan to lift Title 42. The law also bars moves deemed 'arbitrary and capricious.'
The states claim that the Biden administration failed to account for the added cost to them of more migrants being allowed in.
The Biden administration stressed in its arguments that the CDC has the authority to end Title 42 because it is a public health order, not an immigration order.
Robert Summerhays has said he'll rule on Title 42 before May 23, the day the Biden administration has planned to end it. He has already granted a temporary
