El Paso residents are spotlighting the “reality” of the border crisis in wake of President Biden’s strategic visit to the U.S. southern border Sunday —which could likely be another missed attempt by the President to show the American public the real crisis.
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The border city has made an intentional effort to clean up the downtown area to put on El Paso’s “best face,” as Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Will Cain described it – a decision that has subsequently blurred the reality of the crisis.
Many residents are feeling incredibly frustrated with the President’s seemingly calculated border visit.
El Paso resident “Rosie,” who intentionally withheld her last name during her “Fox & Friends Weekend” appearance on Sunday, blasted the town’s controversial decision to clean up the streets in preparation for the President.
“They cleaned up downtown. They were telling them to take off their camps and leave, and they were cleaning up. I think that is absolutely not right. You do not clean up for the president…This is the president’s fault, not our fault. So why would we clean up?”
“Leave it like it is. Let him come and see for himself. The real picture. You know, he needs to know what’s going on. Otherwise, he’s going to come and say, Oh, well, there’s no crisis. No, that’s not right,” the El Paso resident continued.
“We’ve been asking people to take action. So whether it’s in preparation of this or not, we’re glad that this issue is being addressed. I mean, the outcome of having people living on the streets is not the desired outcome for anybody. So we hope that the president coming actually does shift the ultimate change that’s needed to get us to where this isn’t an issue,” El Paso Downtown Management District executive director Joe Gudenrath later said on Sunday.
Gudenrath continued, saying that many politicians have visited El Paso in hopes to spark legitimate policy reform, but that, oftentimes, promises turn into false hope.
“We’ve seen politicians come and go to this area before, walking along this border fence saying that change is needed and it hasn’t happened, but it needs to happen on that federal level,” Gudenrath told ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’
President Joe Biden talks with reporters after returning to the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, after a trip to Michigan to promote his infrastructure plan. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ____ The Haitian migrant encampment in Del Rio, Texas, thins out after migrants returned to Mexico or were deported (AP Photo/Susan Walsh | USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect)
Lifelong resident and retired border patrol agent Bill Jackson bolstered Rosie’s claim, echoing that the border crisis has had an “unprecedented” impact on the safety of his community.
“I grew up here, so I’ve seen changes in our city that are unprecedented. The amount of people that are homeless in our society now or in El Paso has moved into more of the neighborhoods,” Jackson detailed to co-host Will Cain.
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“The administration is tying our hands. There’s never been a president in the United States’ history that has facilitated illegal activity or allowed illegal activity, and criminals like President Biden led them to violate our laws. And, in doing so, they jeopardize the safety and security of our citizens.”
In addition to the slew of problems faced by local border communities, former El Paso U.S. Marshall Robert Almonte discussed the nationwide impact of the colossal amounts of drugs that are pouring into the country.
“What happened here in El Paso impacts the entire United States. There’s no doubt about it,” the former Marshall explained.
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“Fentanyl is literally killing thousands and thousands of Americans, throughout the United States, of fentanyl. And, in my opinion, and a lot of other people’s opinions, is the biggest threat to our country right now. And the cartels are bringing the fentanyl in through the border here that we see right now.”
Fentanyl is considered to be 100 times more potent than morphine, and can be fatal in tiny amounts.
June 10, 2021: A pair of migrant families from Brazil pass through a gap in the border wall to reach the United States after crossing from Mexico to Yuma, Ariz., to seek asylum. ((AP Photo/Eugene Garcia, File))
An additional problem that has left many questioning the morality of the Biden administration is illegal border crossings.
Regional Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety Jose “Joe” Sanchez told Will Cain about his growing concern for public safety within his community, as some migrants have been attempting to evade the border by cutting through highways.
Sanchez said the dangerous trend began when Border Patrol agents were able to secure a certain section of the border wall, causing some migrants to start seeking alternative routes.
“Once we clogged this up, and we secured this, then we started having problems on the border highway, not too far from here, where they started cutting holes through the wall. And then they were coming across and there’s a very busy highway that goes through there,” Sanchez said Sunday.
“And so a lot of our citizens in the community were having to avoid hitting migrants. Some migrants got hit. Some of our citizens end up crashing their vehicles to avoid hitting the migrants. So a public safety concern was definitely big at that time.”
Migrants stand across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. Thousands of migrants have illegally crossed into the city in recent days, prompting concerns from city officials. (Border Patrol)
Sanchez concluded by sending a quick “message” to the President.
“Mr. President, we’d greatly appreciate if you could take the concerns of what goes on in our border communities, because this migration has really, really put a lot of devastation to the communities.”
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