A Border Patrol agent is seen speaking with a Venezuelan family seeking asylum in Del Rio, Texas, on May 19. (John Moore / Getty Images)
By Kaylee Greenlee September 17, 2021 at 12:50pm
The Democratic mayor in a Texas border city asked President Joe Biden whether he’d been briefed about the crisis in his town this week.
Over 10,500 migrants illegally crossed the Rio Grande to reach the banks of Del Rio, Texas, where they await processing under the Del Rio International Bridge, Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano wrote in a Thursday tweet.
Lozano added that the number of migrants under the bridge is the equivalent of around one-third of the population of the border town.
Good evening from Del Río, TX. 10,503 (as of 6:45pm, September 16, 2021) migrants under the Del Río International Bridge. This morning we started at 8,200. President Biden, have you been briefed on the ongoing crisis yet? @POTUS @VP @WhiteHouse @DHSgov @cnnbrk @FoxNews @ABC
— Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano (@BrunoRalphy) September 17, 2021
“A stark warning was delivered back in February when we released the video to the Biden administration that what you’re seeing behind me was a threat then and here it’s … the worst-case scenario of worst-case scenarios,” Lozano added.
Update from earlier today. pic.twitter.com/5hXu3eYyB5
— Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano (@BrunoRalphy) September 17, 2021
“This morning we started at 8,200. President Biden, have you been briefed on the ongoing crisis yet?” Lozano tweeted.
Has the Biden administration failed to address the border crisis?
A majority of the migrants arriving at the bridge are from Haiti, according to Lozano.
“The Border Patrol right now is so overwhelmed with the influx of migrants in the Del Rio sector, we have about 2,000 to 3,000 [migrants] at any given moment in detention,” Lozano said.
The migrants waiting under the bridge have not yet been processed by border officials, so they’re not officially in federal custody as they wait under the bridge, according to Lozano.
One migrant went into labor underneath the bridge yesterday, where resources are few and far between, and Lozano is concerned about the potential spread of COVID-19 and other diseases among people in close quarters.
Lozano even expressed concerns about a potential terror attack in the high-travel area, given that migrants in the area go back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico.
“This is just something that really needs to be brought to light,” Lozano said.
“We need quick action from the administration. We need quick attention to this. We need a response in real-time.”
Border officials encountered more than 208,000 migrants at the southern border in August, including around 32,300 people in the Del Rio sector, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
Content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of the DCNF’s original content, please contact [email protected].
A version of this article appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation website.
Founded by Tucker Carlson, a 25-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and Neil Patel, former chief policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, The Daily Caller News Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit providing original investigative reporting from a team of professional reporters that operates for the public benefit.