Joe Biden’s choice of El Paso, Texas, as the site of his first presidential visit to the U.S.-Mexico border puts a spotlight on a city that has struggled to deal with a four-fold surge in the number of migrants on its streets.
Mayor Oscar Leeser — a Democrat like Biden — has said shelters and charity groups in his city have been overwhelmed as El Paso became a popular crossing point over the past few months, putting it at the center of a national debate about border security.
Leeser even borrowed a tactic from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been sharply critical of what he calls Biden’s failures at the border. The city spent millions of dollars on buses to transport migrants released into the city to other locales in the U.S., including New York. Unlike the state, El Paso coordinated the trips with officials in the destination cities to make sure services were waiting for them upon arrival.
