Democrat Run 'Safest City in America' Declares Emergency Expecting 'Overwhelming' Immigrant Surge

EL PASO – El Paso, touted by Democrats as one of the safest cities in America, has declare a state of emergency in the midst of a surge of illegal immigrant border crossings. 

Fox News is reporting officials in the City of El Paso have declared a state of emergency as border crossings have overwhelmed law enforcement personnel.

Mayor Oscar Leeser announced the state of emergency during a press conference Saturday, saying he could no longer keep residents safe.

"I said from the beginning that I would call it when I felt that either our asylum seekers or community were not safe," Leeser said.

The largest border city in Texas is expecting a surge of migrants when Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy that reduced the number of asylum seekers the U.S. would allow under the COVID pandemic, expires on Dec. 21.

In recent weeks, Leeser and El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said they did not see a need to declare a state of emergency.

President Biden has chosen not to continue the Title 42 rules and courts have allowed them to expire. Nineteen Republican states, including Texas, have sued to keep the rules in place.

The city council will have to ratify the declaration, which will remain in effect for seven days.

The officials also did not want to concede control of city facilities to Gov. Greg Abbott, who later assured them that he would only take action after speaking with the mayor’s office.

"He said 'Mayor I'm going to tell you something we will never do anything without talking to you first and we won't impose anything without talking to you first," Leeser said.