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Texas congressman sounds alarm on deteriorating conditions for migrants: 'Out of an apocalyptic time'
By Elizabeth Heckman
Published December 21, 2022
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas., said Wednesday on "America's Newsroom" he's never seen conditions this bad at Border Patrol processing centers in El Paso.
Gonzales reacted to the White House pressing the Supreme Court to allow Title 42 to expire despite deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
"I worry that they're only going to increase capacity and then just release more people into El Paso and throughout the country," he told Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino.
Video footage obtained by Fox News shows a Border Patrol facility in El Paso, Texas, overwhelmed with migrant arrivals.
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Representative Tony Gonzalez filmed the processing facility on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (Representative Tony Gonzalez)
As Texas is about to face freezing temperatures, Gonzales discussed how the center is at "400% past capacity" and said everyone is sick.
"There is only one bathroom, everyone's coughing and everyone's sick. A lot of people don't have jackets and outer layers of clothing. And it's about to be freezing there. So the conditions are absolutely horrible. Fast-forward five days and nothing has changed. I got an update last night. There are still over 4,000 migrants in that center."
In a video taken Friday from Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Tex., a Border Patrol Central Processing Center is seen at over four times its capacity with migrants. (Representative Tony Gonzales)
Gonzales detailed the conditions in El Paso like it is "outside a Hollywood movie."
"National Guardsmen are putting up razor wire. El Paso's a beautiful city," said Gonzales.
"You've got razor wire there in the airport, I was told, over 500 migrants are sleeping on the floor. The El Paso school district has provided a couple of buildings that they're not using to house migrants. The convention center is also being used. There's talk of using Fort Bliss, which is the Army base there in El Paso. It's out of an apocalyptic time."
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Gonzales, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., wrote a letter to Biden urging for him to keep Title 42 in place.
"It's below freezing in El Paso. It's not fair to anybody. Not to mention, we've had 14 Customs and Border Patrol agents commit suicide this year. So that is also an issue that agents are breaking down," he said.
Gonzales’ video came a day before the City of El Paso declared a state of emergency as border crossings have overwhelmed law enforcement personnel.
Fox News' Bradford Betz and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-congressman-sounds-alarm-deteriorating-conditions-migrants-apocalyptic-time