White House pushed El Paso Democrat mayor against declaring emergency over migrant crisis, report

The White House reportedly pressured the Democrat mayor or El Paso, Texas, not to declare a state of emergency to address the the city's struggle to address record migrant from Mexico over fears that such a declaration would make the Biden administration look bad.

Three of the El Paso City Council's eight members are urging Mayor Oscar Leeser to declare an emergency over the thousands of migrants who have flooded the city, the New York Post reported Monday.

Council member Claudia Rodriguez said Leeser told her the administration directed him against issuing an emergency declaration.

"He told me the White House asked him not to," she said.

Leeser has said that "if things got worse" he would declare a state of emergency, but he has not said what that would require.

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes parts of the southwest U.S. border, said: "It is a sleight of hand what the administration is doing — pressuring the local government to not issue a declaration of emergency, to say as if everything is going OK."

Leeser declined an interview with the Post, but said in a statement, "I don’t bow to pressure from any side."

Illegal migration is at a record high, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol have encountered more than 2 million migrants this fiscal year, official data show.