The Democratic mayor of a Texas border town had some strong words for staffers from Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s office about asylum-seekers and immigration.
Bruno Lozano, the mayor of Del Rio, Texas, criticized the federal government for failing to take a more hands-on role in protecting border towns like his at a meeting earlier this month. He said that lawmakers should come and see what the town and others across the state are dealing with. Lozano’s town was recently in the news after migrants from Africa made their way into the area.
“They need to see firsthand what’s going on. They need to understand the frustrations that the commissioners, or that the city council, the school board, the hospital officials are managing [and] having to deal with,” Lozano said.
“We’re frustrated. We’re extremely frustrated,” he added. “Our priorities on the city council are our streets, are our parks, are the economy, are the drive of the community and the places of worship and the places to have leisure activities. It is not the priority to solve immigration.”
Lozano emphasized that it is not the responsibility of local governments to handle issues related to asylum seekers and immigration, but rather that of elected federal officials.
“It is not our purview; it is not our jurisdiction. It is your job to ensure that you convey the frustration that I share with you all to ensure that our representatives at the federal level are hearing it,” Lozano said. “It’s falling on deaf ears, and we are tired of it. We are sick and tired of the deaf ears.”
