Washington – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his security detail violated both Mexican and U.S. immigration laws by crossing the border on foot during a visit near El Paso, Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection alleges in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
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The mayor’s office flatly denied the allegation.
De Blasio, a fierce critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, went to the Texas border with about 20 other mayors from around the country on June 21, the day after President Donald Trump signed an order stopping family separations at the border.
More than 2,300 families were separated as a result of the administration’s zero-tolerance policy, which criminally prosecutes anyone caught crossing illegally. The mayors said Trump had failed to address a humanitarian crisis of his own making.
De Blasio went to a holding facility for immigrant children but was denied entry. He then went to Mexico and crossed into the U.S. to get a view of the facility. The New York Police Department runs de Blasio’s security detail.
According to the letter, a uniformed Border Patrol agent noticed a group on the Rio Grande River flood plain south of the Tornillo, Texas, Port of Entry, taking photos of the holding facility. The agent asked if anyone from Border Patrol or public affairs was there to authorize their presence. A New York Police Department inspector said no, according to the letter, and when the agent asked the group how they arrived, they pointed to Mexico.
The agent told them they’d crossed the border illegally and asked them to remain there while he got a supervisor and took them to an official crossing for an inspection per federal law, according to the letter. But the group disregarded the order and drove back to Mexico, according to the letter.
De Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips said the group did nothing illegal and had approval to be there.
“The mayor crossed the border with the direct approval and under the supervision of the border patrol supervisor at this port of entry,” Phillips said in an email Tuesday night to the AP. “Any suggestion otherwise is a flat-out lie and an obvious attempt by someone to attack the Mayor because of his advocacy for families being ripped apart at the border by the Trump Administration.”
A spokesman for the Border Protection had no comment.
The letter was sent June 25 by Aaron Hull, the chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector to New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill.
As we have seen time,& time again ….The Progressive Left has a different set if rules , & is above the law !!!!
Here we go again, our country has 2 laws for high official liberal low life trash and the regular guy. He should be arrested and held for illegal crossing the border. If for some reason he gets arrested keep him in a holding center to keep his illegal friends company .
Oh well, I was hoping that he would move to Ciudad Juarez and become mayor there
Democrats are above the law, that’s a progressive society for you. Just like in Communist countries, where the party officials were able to do whatever they wanted. Of course NYPD above the law too, but that we already knew.
Remember only Trump can break the law, liberals and progressives get arrested weekly for blocking streets are fighting for us
Lock him up! Do NYC a favor!!!
Hold him in the illegal immigration detention center, but we don’t want to separate him from his kids, so stick his wife & kids in there too. you can hold him there until you send him back to Mexico for illegally crossing their border.
This clown make Hashomer look like a conservative