Immigration reform 'more important than ever': Former Democratic mayor
Former Del Rio, Texas mayor Bruno Lozano speaks on Democrats' pushback against migrant drop-offs made by Republican governors.
The former Democratic mayor of Del Rio, Texas stressed Wednesday the importance of immigration reform as migrants continue to flood the southern border in record numbers.
"It's hard to believe that a year ago to the day, we had about 17,000 people underneath the international border crossing here in Del Rio, Texas. And it was then that I was calling an urgent call to the administration. And we still call an urgent call now," Bruno Lozano told "Fox & Friends First," calling it "heartbreaking" that the crisis facing border communities isn't receiving more attention.
The number of migrant encounters at the southern border rose to over 200,000 in August, as the border faced an increase in migrants coming from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, which officials said was driving a "new wave of migration" across the Hemisphere.
Migrants under a bridge at the Rio Grande near the Del Rio-Acuna Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas. (Getty Images)
There were 203,598 encounters on the border, a slight increase from the 199,976 encountered in July and lower than the 209,840 encountered in August last year.
Of the 203,598, officials said 157, 921 were unique migrant encounters, with the rest attributed to those who had multiple encounters with officials and had been expelled or deported.
According to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, encounters with migrants from Mexico and Central America were down for the third month in a row, accounting for just 36% of unique encounters, while 55,333 unique encounters were from the totalitarian regimes of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, a 175% increase over last year.
Migrants camp under the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas in September. The number of migrant encounters has increased substantially, according to a Homeland Security court filing. (Rep. August Pfluger)
Lozano said that the migrant surge was an "extreme crisis last year" when 17,000 people "inundated the border" near the city.
The former mayor added that Texas had to pull resources from all over the state, as Governor Abbott sent DPS to help overwhelmed Border Patrol agents.
"We had nonprofits all across the border and across the state and country just bring in water and food and FEMA was finally activated to provide some assistance for the humanitarian crisis," he told Carley Shimkus.
"We're a city of 36,000 people. We've had 450,000 people crossing the Del Rio sector alone. That's 12 times our population. And it just makes you wonder how important is immigration reform right now? And I think it's now more important than ever."
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Furthermore, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on his promise to drop off illegal immigrants in Democrat-led states, sending two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last week.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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