Dem Rep. Pleads For Help, Tells MSNBC in El Paso Biden Should ‘Absolutely’ Be at the Border

MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart traveled to El Paso, Texas for a report this week on the border crisis, and he spoke with migrants as well as Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) who called for more “direct engagement” from the White House.

Escobar recently called for more resources from the federal government to help local governments handle a surge in migrants.

Díaz-Balart was shocked to find communities struggling to deal with a massive flow of migrants as the future of Title 42 remains in question. The MSNBC reporter noted he saw a lack of “urgency” from the federal government on the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

Díaz-Balart said:

“Washington needs to deal with immigration and they haven’t since 1986, that was the last comprehensive immigration reform that passed in this country … I just don’t see, and maybe I’m wrong, I don’t see the urgency. I see the urgency of the NGOs, I see the Red Cross, the plane that brought me here was filled with Red Cross volunteers, I see local officials here, I see National Guard — I just don’t see urgency by the federal government. Am I wrong. Where’s FEMA? Where are the organizations? Where are the people just knowing that these are men, women, and children who are asking for asylum, the legal right to ask for asylum.”

Escobar did offer some praise to FEMA and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for helping to get resources to El Paso, but called for legislative action. While Escobar called for the administration to step up on immigration, she also pointed to “mostly Republicans” as holding up bipartisan reform.

“Should the president be here, do you think?” Díaz-Balart.

Escobar replied President Joe Biden should “absolutely” be at the border. It’s the latest in a number of calls for Biden to visit the border. The president recently said he wasn’t because there are more important issues to deal with at the moment.

Escobar said the only solution to the border crisis will ultimately be legislation.

“I think absolutely the president should be here, and I think everyone should be here, but more importantly than the president actually being here, I want Congress to act,” she said. “I would like the State Department to be even more robustly engaged on this western hemispheric issue because this is going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take legislation.”

Watch above via MSNBC