El Paso official warns migrant surge is 'unsustainable': 'We can't keep up with this'
Mario D'Agostino shares concerns on the wave of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border and the rise in crime as the end of Title 42 nears on 'The Story.'
El Paso's Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino pleaded for expedited federal assistance Thursday, citing an "unsustainable" number of migrants crossing over into Texas as Title 42 is set to expire.
"What we’re seeing right now is a complete surge," D’Agostino said on "The Story." "We’re already at over 2,500 apprehensions per day in the El Paso region. That’s equating to about 1,600 releases here in our community every day… with Title 42 going away, we’re concerned."
Thousands of migrants continue to cross from Mexico into South Texas, overwhelming city resources as homeless shelters reach capacity, forcing some migrants to sleep outside in below-freezing temperatures.
EL PASO OFFICIAL SAYS ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS ARE ‘UNSUSTAINABLE’ DAYS BEFORE TITLE 42 EXPIRES
"There has to be some policy changes, some kind of different direction on how we approach this because we’re worried about the same concerns, about the smuggling of people, drugs and we’re concerned about the people freezing in the streets…," D'Agostino told host Martha MacCallum. "It’s all of that…that we've tried to prepare and we know that we need assistance."
A Customs and Border Protection bus drops off dozens of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, at the City of El Paso's migrant welcome center Sept. 22, 2022. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News)
The area near El Paso faced a three-day average of nearly 2,500 crossings over the weekend, Border Patrol said. The city has never dealt with such a large influx of migrants before, according to D’Agostino, who fears migrant crossings with surge further once Title 42, a health protocol that enables the government to quickly expel migrants, expires on Dec. 21.
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"This didn’t just happen overnight. We’ve been seeing the numbers increase. We had a large surge pre-COVID in 2018-2019 time frame. We’ve seen continued surges even through COVID. We had the last one a few months back. We’ve known it’s coming," he said. "We’ve been planning for months on what happens if Title 42 goes away. Now that that is a possibility, before is even happening, we’re seeing this large surge that is unsustainable for any one community."
Dec. 13 2022: Migrants camp out in El Paso, Texas. ((Fox News/Jon Michael Raasch))
"El Paso is 800,000 people. We have one airport, we have a couple of bus terminals for transportation, and we can’t keep up with a daily flow of 1,600 plus, on top of the holiday season."
D'Agostino said the city has requested advanced federal funding, but worries it may take too long before financial assistance comes through.
"We've gotten communications that there’s some possibly coming. We don’t have the time frame yet. But we’re hoping that comes in soon," he said. "We’re working with our state resources and actually asking for some state assistance in the form of law enforcement and the form of staffing and in the form of transportation."
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Migrants camping on the streets of El Paso, Texas. (Jon Raasch/Fox Digital)
D'Agostino said the current surge is nearly a 50% increase from September's wave of migrants, when Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended around 1,700 migrants each day in the El Paso sector.
El Paso has already spent $9.5 million assisting migrants this year, The Texas Tribune reported. The federal government has reimbursed $2.2 million so far and is expected to provide another $4.6 million.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, is requesting $4 billion in additional funding for the border.
Fox News' Jon Michael Raasch contributed to this report.
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