Judy: An extraordinary number of
migrants crossed the u.s./mexico
border into El Paso, Texas, over
the weekend.
This, as government and
non-government agencies prepare
for the end of title 42 -- the
pandemic-related order that the
government has used to turn away
more than one million migrants.
Amna nawaz has more.
Amna: Judy, nearly a thousand
people, many from Nicaragua,
crossed the Rio grande from
Juarez, Mexico into El Paso on
Sunday night alone.
Stretching an already-taxed
border system to new limits.
Along the entire southern
border, federal agents have
reported a record number of
encounters, nearly 2.4 million
in a yearlong period.
For more on the impact of these
arrivals, and what can be done
from Washington, I am joined by
congresswoman Veronica Escobar,
a Democrat representing Texas's
16th congressional district,
including El Paso, where she
joins us from now.
Welcome back.
As you know, the last few days
have seen some of the largest
mass crossings in decades.
You have said your community has
seen an unprecedented strain.
You are there now.
Describe for us the impact on el
Paso.
How bad is it?
Rep. Escobar: First I want to
say I am really proud of the
community.
We continue to respond to an
enormous challenge while
retaining our values and not
surrendering to politics and
making sure we are coming
forward with solutions.
I want to applaud everyone at
the local level.
I also want to think the Biden
administration, it is the first
administration ever that has
sought to fully reimburse
expenses related to supporting
migrants in the federal
government.
This is a profound challenge.
I don't want to not emphasize
that enough.
Our resources have been
stretched as far as they can.
Our local governments have been
asked to perform functions not
within their jurisdiction
necessarily.
Our homeless shelters are beyond
capacity.
Our order patrol agents and
other officers are working
overtime.
They are stressed, their
families are stressed.
I have been wanting for some
time, going back years, that if
congress failed to act on
legislating around this issue,
and if congress continued to
treat immigration as a border
only issue, things would only
get worse.
They have, and if congress does
not ask, they will continue to
get worse.
Amna: What about the immediate
future?
In terms of the numbers right
now, we saw secretary mayorkas
in El Paso today.
What do you need right now from
the federal government and will
you get it?
Rep. Escobar: I feel good about
FEMA reimbursements.
FEMA has prioritized our
community and other border
communities, making sure they
are as efficiently as possible,
either reimbursing local
governments or providing upfront
funding in order to address this
from the local level.
Where we need a lot more help is
really in another -- in a number
of other areas.
I had a conversation with the
chairwoman yesterday, we need a
whole of government approach.
We need to make sure the federal
government in this omnibus --
and we need this omnibus to be
passed before Christmas eve --
this omnibus must contain
robusta FEMA funding for
humanitarian support and relief
going forward.
The other thing I am requesting
in the omnibus is federally run
emergency short-term shelter.
We cannot continue to see
migrants sleeping on the
streets.
The faith-based community is
stepping up and they will try to
help provide shelter.
The county of El Paso is helping
collaborate and support them,
make sure they can stand those
up and have the resources for
that, but we also need a
federally run shelter.
This is the short term, the
immediate, how do we deal with
this in the immediate?
Amna: There is a real challenge
ahead, next week title 42 is
slated to end on the summer
21st, the pandemic era policy
allowing border officials to
quickly expel anyone arriving at
the southern border.
Everyone agrees numbers will go
up when that happens.
Is getting rid of title 42 right
now a mistake?
Rep. Escobar: Title 42 is not a
solution.
For too long, people have looked
into it as a solution.
You have been in our community,
you know we are getting people
who are arriving on our nation's
front door from a number of
different countries.
Really, a lot of those
countries, title 42 cannot be
used.
For title 42 to be seen as a
solution -- and Democrats and
Republicans alike have been
touting it as a solution -- it
is not the solution.
What we are seeing happening
really is 80% of migrants who
are being expelled, but probably
about 20% of them because title
42 is not applicable, cannot be
and are paroled into the
country.
My hope is that the
administration understands and
comes to understand that the
torrents has not solved this.
I think they know that.
Congress needs to understand
that as well.
Title 42 is in some ways, makes
things far worse.
It helps provide more victims to
human traffickers because people
make multiple attempts to get
in.
I think it further strains
border patrol.
But we've got to get real
solutions, tangible solutions,
and only congress can do that.
Amna: You are about to have a
divided congress in the new
year, Republicans will hold the
house majority.
Where is there any hope of
bipartisan immigration reform in
the form of legislation?
What Republicans will work with
you?
Rep. Escobar: Here is the big
challenge -- I don't know if
Kevin Mccarthy will be the next
speaker of the house, I don't
know if he has the votes to get
to 218, but he has announced if
he is bigger of the house, there
will be no immigration related
legislation that gets to the
house floor.
So even if we can cobble
together some solutions with
moderate Republicans, and there
still are some moderate
Republicans who I believe want
to solve this, unfortunately
Kevin Mccarthy is getting into
the more extreme voices in his
party, in his conference.
We would have to figure out a
way to work around that, for his
moderate members to allow some
of that legislation to come to
the floor.
If we don't get that, we will
have two years not just of the
same, but really a situation
that will get significantly
worse over time.
Amna: Veronica Escobar, Democrat
from Texas, joining us from el
Paso tonight.
Thank you for your time.
Rep. Escobar: Thank you.