El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser will attend an event at the White House on Tuesday, where President Joe Biden is expected to announce executive actions to dramatically limit migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
CNN first reported that Biden was expected to invite mayors from border cities to the event, and Leeser confirmed to El Paso Matters Sunday night that he would attend.
“El Paso is a welcoming community, and that makes me very proud, but no community can continue the effort and resources we’ve expended on this humanitarian crisis endlessly. We are appreciative of the funding we have received from the federal government so that our efforts don’t fall on the backs of El Paso taxpayers, but our immigration system is broken, and it is critical that Congress work on a bipartisan long-term plan to work with other countries in order to create a more manageable, humane, and sustainable immigration system for our country,” Leeser said in a statement.
“I look forward to hearing more about the president’s plan on Tuesday, and we stand ready to work with our partners at the local, state and federal level on this effort.”
Although border crossings through El Paso have been down in recent months, the region has been the scene of repeated humanitarian challenges since 2018 as large numbers of migrants – primarily from Central and South America – have been released by Border Patrol agents after being given a notice to appear in immigration report.
El Paso governments and nongovernmental organizations have opened numerous shelters and taken other steps to care for migrants, including hundreds who have spent nights outside. Few migrants settle long term in El Paso, with the vast majority taking buses or planes to join family or other sponsors elsewhere in the United States.
Addressing immigration – including migration at the U.S.- Mexico border – has become one of the most intractable issues facing the federal government, and will be a key issue in the 2024 presidential race between Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Requesting asylum is one of the few pathways people from much of the world can use to seek to stay in the United States for extended periods. Congress has repeatedly failed to create more legal pathways for entry into the United States, or make other changes to immigration policies.
Dozens of migrants are outside Sacred Heart Church on the night of Sept. 13, 2023, as shelters in both Juárez and El Paso were at capacity. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
A bipartisan effort to address immigration and border issues was killed by Senate Republicans earlier this year after Trump expressed his opposition. Biden is expected to announce executive actions on Tuesday, essentially bypassing Congress, to make it more difficult for migrants to cross the border without documents and request asylum.
Numerous national media outlets have reported that Biden will use a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act known as 212f to restrict access to asylum when encounters between migrants and Border Patrol agents exceed a threshold.
Politico has reported that Biden administration officials are considering a threshold of 4,000 daily crossings over the course of a week. CBS News reported that crossings over the first three weeks of may averaged 3,700 a day the first three weeks of May, less than half the record level seen in December.
Migrant advocates have said that any efforts to further restrict asylum requests will rely on new implementation measures on the border, and cooperation from Mexico. That country is going through a presidential transition after Sunday’s elections, where Claudia Sheinbaum appears headed to victory and will succeed her mentor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in October.
The post El Paso Mayor Leeser heading to White House for immigration announcement appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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