The mayor of a Texas border town on Saturday declared a state of emergency out of concern about the municipality’s ability to handle the expected arrival of migrants across the southern U.S. border.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser approved a state of emergency to allow the city, bordering Mexico, access to additional resources expected to be needed when removals authorized under so-called Title 42 end Dec. 21, according to El Paso Times.
Leeser had opposed declaring a state of emergency but said he decided to act after seeing people on downtown streets in freezing temperatures, according to the Times.
“That’s not how we want to treat people,” Leese said during a news conference on Saturday night.
A ruling on Friday by the DC Court of Appeals meant that restrictions that have kept hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking asylum in the United States in recent years would be lifted on Wednesday, barring new appeals.
Leeser added that the increase would be “incredible” from Wednesday, when the number of people arrested and released on the street could reach 6,000 a day, the local newspaper reported.
The number two of the local government, Mario D’Agostino, said that the state of emergency would give the municipality more flexibility to manage large reception programs and provide additional transport to asylum seekers.
