GOP lawmaker says DHS chief tried to 'bulls***' him on call about border crisis



A Republican lawmaker whose district is on the southern border and includes the town of Del Rio, Texas, said Wednesday that Biden administration's homeland security chief tried to "bulls***" him on a conference call about the border crisis.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) told the Washington Examiner in an interview that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was "dismissive" of the congressman's concerns about crime and potential terrorist activity at the southern border on a call discussing how thousands of migrants crossed illegally and overwhelmed the town of Del Rio days ago.

"We discussed a wide variety of things, but one of the things that I mentioned in particular, I was like, 'Look, the migrant situation's absolutely chaotic and terrible, but what keeps me up at night is another 9/11-type of event,'" Gonzales said.

"And when you have all of your Border Patrol agents — it's not only in the Del Rio sector, it's the surrounding sectors as well — that all kind of come to Del Rio to handle this situation, that literally leaves our border wide open," he explained. "There's hundreds of miles that aren't being patrolled at all. Checkpoints are closed down."

Gonzales represents Texas's 23rd Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and covers 800 miles of the border with Mexico. He told the Examiner that this Monday evening call with Mayorkas was the first time he spoke to a member of President Joe Biden's Cabinet about the border crisis, and that his concerns were ignored.

"'No. No. No. Everything is under control,'" said Gonzales, paraphrasing what Mayorkas told him. "No, don't tell me, 'Everything's under control.' It's not under control. Because like, I know it's not under control. You can bulls*** somebody else, but you can't bulls*** me."

"It was kind of like, dismissive a little bit, and that's a problem, especially when you're talking about national security. Like, there are no second chances. You have to get it right every single time, or it's game over," he added.

The Biden administration on Sunday began expelling some of the more than 12,000 Haitian migrants who had gathered under a bridge in Del Rio back to their home country. Under Gov. Greg Abbott's direction, Texas state troopers deployed to the area have created a miles-long "steel wall" of patrol vehicles to deter more migrants from crossing the Rio Grande to the encampment under the Del Rio International Bridge.

Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez told the Texas Tribune that there are an estimated 6,200 migrants still camped under the bridge as of Wednesday. Some migrants who were permitted to enter the U.S. to make asylum claims included families with small children and pregnant women.

Democratic border city mayor blasts Biden: He’s ‘disconnected from reality’ on border crisis



The Democratic mayor of a small Texas city along the U.S.-Mexico border put the Biden administration on blast this week over its woeful mismanagement of the immigration crisis, which he lamented is disproportionately effecting border communities like his.

"You have a breach on national security levels that have never before been seen in modern history and you're not even batting an eye about it, you're not even calling it a 'crisis', you're calling it a 'challenge,'" Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano told the New York Post on Sunday. "It's a slap in the face."

Lozano's scathing criticism did not come out of nowhere. The scrappy 38-year-old mayor made headlines in February when he urgently begged President Biden in a video message to stop releasing illegal immigrants into his city of just over 35,000 residents. He explained his community was "completely and utterly spread thin with resources" and would not be able to accommodate the migrants.

City of Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano makes an urgent plea to the President of the United States youtu.be

But Lozano noted on Sunday that his plea "fell on deaf ears," as the number of migrants flooding Del Rio has only increased to approximately 150 a day.

"I'm not trying to demonize the humanitarian aspect by any means but my responsibility is to the city of Del Rio and the residents of Del Rio, Texas, my responsibilities are to the American people that got me elected," Lozano told the Post. "Nobody wants to actually tackle the issue, you're condoning unlawful behavior, period. There's a lawful way to enter the United States, there's a lawful way to seek asylum and it just undermines the entire immigration process."

The mayor characterized the current immigration crisis a federal problem that the Biden administration created by broadcasting lenient enforcement measures, but one that has ultimately fallen into the laps of border communities.

Furious that he is now tasked with attempting to manage the crisis with local dollars, Lozano said, "It's not even in our budget. Every line item is accounted for in municipal government, we're very fine tuned in budget. It's not appropriate.

"It just blows my mind how disconnected from reality [they are] or maybe they do know, maybe they just don't want to call a spade a spade, you know, because it's uncomfortable," he seethed. "Let's be real, the Biden administration sent that message that you know 'we're going to reverse this, we're going to do that' and sure enough within days, within days, it started happening again.

"It was completely predictable," he continued. "You have this policy where unlawful entry is being condoned, criminal activity is being condoned, these migrants are using the cartels to traverse Mexico and that's a fact and organized criminal activity is rising because of that."

"I'm calling them out, I'm so frustrated as a border town mayor about all of this," he said.

Lozano is not the only border Democrat upset with the Biden administration over its naive and dangerous open borders policies. Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar warned earlier this month that such a policy would ultimately lead to dangerous consequences for communities along the border.

"You just can't say, 'Yeah, yeah, let everybody in' — because then we're affected down there at the border," Cuellar said.

Texas Democratic mayor begs President Biden to stop releasing illegal immigrants into border city during crisis



The mayor of a Texas city on the U.S. southern border with Mexico is begging President Joe Biden to stop releasing illegal immigrants into his community during the crisis stemming from Winter Storm Uri.

Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano made an urgent plea to President Biden to stop releasing illegal immigrants into his community because they don't have the resources to help illegal aliens, plus the migrants pose a potential health risk to residents by spreading COVID-19.

"I am pleading and requesting with you to please put a halt to any measures regarding the release of immigrants awaiting court dates, into the city of Del Rio and surrounding areas," Lozano told Biden in a video message.

Del Rio is a city on the southern border that received a record 11 inches of snow this week. The city, which has a U.S. Border Patrol station, has experienced widespread power outages, water shortages, and there are empty food shelves at stores.

"If you do send these individuals into our community, we will be forced to make a decision to leave them without resources under these dire circumstances," the mayor said in the video as images of long lines to grocery stores with empty shelves were shown.

"Please make another plan for this federal issue," he told the president. "If you are going to allow these individuals into our community, I ask that you please provide the supplies and means necessary to accommodate them safely under these extreme circumstances.

"We are completely and utterly spread thin with resources for our community," he continued.

The city has been housing its citizens who are without heat in municipal buildings.

"Our nonprofits, our churches are running thin with resources to provide to our very own citizens," Lozano added. "Additionally, we have been burdened with the inadequate communication systems throughout the entire area, which has impacted our ability to respond and coordinate limited resources and distribution."

Lozano, who is a U.S. Air Force veteran, highlighted his city's medical emergencies that would be exacerbated by an influx of new people.

"We have been outsourcing dialysis treatments for at-need persons within our community," he said of the dire circumstances, adding that the city has had to "relocate the elderly who are in need of power for oxygen tanks."

The mayor also pointed out the health dangers of allowing in large numbers of individuals who have not been tested for the coronavirus.

Lozano noted that the Biden administration has "taken a firm stance on COVID-19 protections for Americans."

"I am asking you to ensure the health and safety of all of our tax-paying citizens along the border are treated with the same urgent consideration," said the mayor.

"Releasing the migrant population without any COVID-19 protection protocols is undermining your commitment to the stand against COVID-19," Lozano said in his message to Biden.

Last week, the Biden administration announced that it will allow 25,000 asylum-seekers into the United States from Mexico while their cases are pending, a dramatic shift from former President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

Earlier this month, Sheriff A.J. Louderback of Jackson County, Texas, said that President Biden was releasing illegal immigrants into the U.S. without testing them for the coronavirus.

Lozano declared, "I cannot mix the migrant population with Del Rio residents that are extremely vulnerable and have been displaced due to the extreme weather that has not improved."

"We may be a small town that is off of your radar, but we are a community of 50,000 people who need your attention," Lozano concluded. "We are requesting that you please listen and that you please come through."

Winter storms left 4.1 million Texans without power earlier this week. As of Thursday afternoon, there were an estimated 325,000 people in the state still without power.

In 2019, Lozano made headlines when he blasted state and federal lawmakers for not securing Del Rio from illegal immigrants and called for more CBP officers.

City of Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano makes an urgent plea to the President of the United States www.youtube.com