An Arizona mayor declared a state of emergency as a result of the surge of illegal immigrants at the United States-Mexico border and is placing blame at the feet of President Biden.
Gila Bend Mayor Chris Riggs made the declaration after he was told that busloads of migrants would be dropped by the federal government in his town despite him saying that the town is not capable of testing them all for the coronavirus, according to Fox Business.
“Border Patrol let us know that they were going to be dropping migrants that had been detained for 72 hours in our town, which we really didn’t understand because we have nothing here,” Riggs said. “We have no charity organizations that can help, no nongovernmental organizations that a lot of the larger cities and towns do have to assist these people.”
Riggs said testing two busloads of people on a weekly basis for a year would cost the town at least $600,000. In addition to the financial cost, Riggs also explained that violent crime is on the rise in his town, which he said is connected to the approximately 20 illegal immigrants arriving on foot each day.
“We’re a very economically depressed community,” Riggs said last week. “We can barely afford to take care of the people that we have here in our community now. And as of the 2nd [of March], Border Patrol advised us they’re basically going to drop people off here and [say], ‘They’re your problem.’”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Riggs added that the Biden administration has left him “completely in the dark.”
Biden has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle for his handling of the recent surge in illegal immigration, which has included a record number of unaccompanied minors.
So far, the Biden administration has refused to declare the situation a crisis and has been noncommittal about a possible visit to the southern border.
