On Wednesday, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) denied the “absurd” allegations that President Biden saw a very different version of the chaos at the border during his visit to El Paso, Texas, while critics accuse local Democrats of attempting to clean up the region, thus presenting a watered-down picture of the migrant crisis to benefit the White House.
“I want to debunk that,” Escobar said in an interview on “America Reports” with Fox News host John Roberts. “First and foremost, no one is more interested in a secure dignified border than those of us who actually live there. So this trip was important to me, it was important to my community, the federal workforce, NGOs, local governments, etc. We would never conspire to paint a different picture. It’s not in our best interest.”
Locals of the city, as well as Border Patrol agents, claimed that Biden’s first-ever trip to the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday didn’t give the president a clear picture of the extent of the crisis, pointing to reports that migrant encampments were cleaned up, while local authorities were instructed to ramp up detentions as they prepared for the president’s visit.
Escobar, who worked closely with the White House to plan the president’s trip, responded to criticism of Biden not meeting with migrants in the town, saying that he had “every intention” of meeting with migrants, but that the traffic at the El Paso processing facility he visited was unusually slow when he arrived.
“As anyone who has worked on the border for any time knows, flows change. So just the week before when the president’s advanced team was there, the processing facility had a lot of people. The flows changed, they moved from El Paso to Eagle Pass,” she said. “The president had every intention – and as someone who provided input – to meet migrants.”
“Number two: The idea that we would sanitize the community to prevent the president from seeing what we have been trying to address at the local level is absurd,” Escobar continued.
Escobar was responding to multiple claims, including one local homeless shelter director who claimed that Biden didn’t witness the “humanitarian shortcomings” that migrants face in El Paso, due to the fact that state and local officials cleared out encampments in the area.
Roberts pressed Escobar on the claims, asking her to explain a side-by-side image depicting a busy migrant encampment around Sacred Heart Church, which was completely empty just a day later.
Escobar claimed the clearing of the encampment was coincidental in its timing to Biden’s visit, as Border Patrol had implemented enforcement activities in recent weeks before “any of us knew” about the president’s visit.
”At the same time, NGOs were ramping up efforts to relocate migrants from off the street into shelters,” she told Roberts. “The night before the president’s visit I had an update from one of the NGOs who said they had been extremely successful in the days leading up.”
President of the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd slammed the president’s decision to only visit ports of entry, avoiding the chaos that occurs “between the port of entry” where cartels “control stretches of our border.”
“The president was at the border with border patrol but also one of the things we have been worried about has been fentanyl,” Escobar fired back. “98% comes in through the ports of entry, so, of course, he’s going to go to the ports, talk about the need for better technology, more personnel.”
“I will tell you this, John. No matter what the president did his critics would be screaming from their rooftops,” she later added. “I would love to see those same critics asking every Republican member of every co-dell that has gone to the border if they have met with migrants and I bet the answer is no.”
Escobar had previously urged Biden to visit the border for himself and see the severity of the crisis.
“I share your feeling of frustration and the need for more urgency and I want to see that, starting with the White House,” she said at the time, calling for “more direct engagement” from the president.
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