A Democratic Texas mayor on Friday said she did not believe migrants who cross the border and find themselves transported north to various locations across the U.S. are being “lied to.”
Mayor pro-tem of Eagle Pass, Texas, Yolanda Ramon told Fox News that she thinks migrants who cross into the U.S. appreciate the ride further inland.
“I can tell you one thing, they’re not being lied to. You run into them at the gas station, they’ll tell you I just want to go somewhere. I just want to go further up north,” she said.
“They don’t even know where they’re at sometimes,” she continued. “They’ll ask how far is San Antonio? How far is Houston? How far is New York?”
Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, queue to board a bus to New York at the Migrant Welcome Center managed by the city of El Paso and the Office of Emergency Management, Sept. 16, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
Ramon’s comments come as the partisan fight over how to handle the influx of migrants arriving at the southern border continues.
Republicans frustrated by the Biden administration’s response to what they deem as an “immigration crisis” made headlines earlier this year by busing or flying groups of migrants all over the country, including to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and in front of Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C.
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Democratic Eagle Pass, Texas Mayor Pro-Tem Yolanda P. Ramon spoke with Fox News’ Matt Finn about the migrant crisis affecting her town. (Fox News Channel)
Roughly half a dozen buses made their way from the southern border to New York City this week adding to the more than 11,000 migrants the Big Apple has received since May.
At least 41 migrants piled off a bus early Friday and were received by the New York Port Authority, including nine men, 18 women and 15 children from El Paso.
But it’s not just Republicans in the border states who have voiced frustration with the migrant issue.
Migrants crossing the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass, Texas. (Fox News)
Ramon has been vocal in her criticism of the White House for failing to adequately address the influx of migrants who continue to arrive at the southern border daily.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams over the summer requested federal aid to assist with the migrant populations flooding his city.
Ramon responded to his appeal for aid by telling Fox News, “Good luck to them on getting any help from the federal government.”
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“We’ve been asking for over a year and we haven’t gotten much of that,” she said.
Ramon argued that at least larger cities have the infrastructure needed to deal with large groups of people, as opposed to small towns on the border that have been burdened with large groups of migrants seeking refuge but with little federal aid.