Mayor Oscar Leeser said his decision to delay declaring a border crisis in El Paso, TX was one he made himself. However, City Council Member Claudia Rodriguez has contradicted this claim, saying the mayor has politicized the issue and succumbed to pressure from the White House. Video footage of a September city council meeting backs up Councilwoman Rodriguez’s claims, showing that the White House pressured the city against declaring a state of emergency.
FOX NEWS: Democrat Texas mayor accused of lying about pressure from WH on handling migrant crisis: ‘We have receipts’
Amy Nelson; October 20, 2022
El Paso City Council member Claudia Rodriguez called out the city’s Democratic mayor Wednesday night, saying he has been caught in a lie.
Earlier on Fox News Wednesday, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser denied Rodriguez’s allegation that he was pressured by the White House to avoid declaring the migrant influx an emergency in the city, insisting he made the decision himself.
“Absolutely not,” Leeser told host Dana Perino. “One of the things we need to learn and really make sure we do is that we take the politics out of this.”
Video footage from a September city council meeting, however, appears to show otherwise.
“The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, Chief Ortiz, he does not support declaring a state of emergency at this point,” Leeser said during the Sept. 27 meeting. “And the White House has asked at this point for us not to do that.”
Rodriguez said she was floored by the mayor’s contradictory statements.
She explained on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Wednesday night that the council is meant to be a nonpartisan entity.
“As much as the mayor wants to say this is not a political issue, yeah, those comments would probably say otherwise,” she said Wednesday.
She said it was “crazy” to hear the mayor deny her allegations that there was pressure from the White House.
“We have the receipts. It’s literally on the internet for the entire world to see,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez previously said on “Fox & Friends” that she had expressed her concern about the number of migrants to Leeser and asked him to reconsider declaring a state of emergency. She said he declined at that time, citing the White House’s request against it.
“I hope that in the future we will definitely put the people of El Paso first and really take the politics out of it,” Rodriguez said.
Photo: John Moore/Getty Images