Ahead of President Joe Biden’s first visit to the southern border since taking office, the city of El Paso bulldozed multiple illegal migrant homeless encampments to tidy up for the national media.
In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to leave them for the president and his entourage to see.
According to the Washington Examiner, hundreds who were camped out surrounding the city’s Greyhound bus station and Sacred Heart Church were relocated by El Paso’s police force and Border Patrol. This, of course, was merely window dressing to keep the dire situation from view.
In a text message, a senior federal agent told the outlet that area residents “were fed up and they made it known.” Crime is spiraling out of control, and some migrants commandeered parking lots and charged locals to park there.
This is El Paso before Biden's visit and after his announcement he was coming to El Paso. We needed him to see what his policies have done to our Border cities and South Texas is still waiting for his Border visit.
Photos: Fit Fam El Paso pic.twitter.com/kLbOpBleEh
— Mayra Flores (@MayraFlores2022) January 8, 2023
The street sweeping began last week, according to reports, when officials discovered that large groups of people were pretending to have been processed and released by Border Patrol.
They had not. Instead, they had never been arrested.
A second federal agent confirmed that there’d been a surge in carjackings along with property and drug crimes. They reported that the sweep was ordered by the city and not federal authorities.
It is hardly El Paso’s fault that the city is now an enormous refugee center, and Biden and his followers know that all too well. Tens of thousands of illegal migrants continue to pour across the border, and the president’s piecemeal policies are having zero effect.
Most of the recent deluge came in anticipation of the expiration of Title 42 border restrictions, but the Supreme Court thankfully stepped in and extended the provisions until at least next month. That, however, has not stemmed the overwhelming flow of migrants into Texas.
The city’s streets, sidewalks, parks, and any available spaces have been taken over by illegal immigrants.
The Biden White House recently implemented a new policy to allow some migrants to remain in the U.S. while expelling most others to the Mexican side of the border. Neither political side is pleased, and court challenges will surely follow.
What will please the side of law-abiding American citizens will be to secure the border and expel those who are not legally in the country. All the photo ops Biden can muster are no replacement for a zero-tolerance policy that puts U.S. security first.
