EL PASO, Texas \u2014 Hundreds of illegal immigrants are sleeping on the streets and on city buses in the cold weather and crime is rampant the night before President Joe Biden is set to visit El Paso, the Daily Caller News Foundation observed.
\nBiden\u2019s\u00a0visit\u00a0Sunday will be his first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, which has been overwhelmed by record surges of illegal immigration. Just hours before his arrival, there\u2019s a dire situation for both the locals and illegal immigrants in El Paso.\u00a0(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Agent Shot Near Border Days Ahead Of Biden\u2019s Visit)
\n\u201cThis has never happened before. We\u2019ve never had people, I want to say in the history of El Paso sleeping on the streets the way they\u2019re sleeping on the streets now,\u201d former city councilwoman Claudia Rodriguez told the DCNF.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s something completely unprecedented and I think that if we want to be able to sustain this, legislation change needs to happen obviously because it\u2019s unsustainable. We can\u2019t have people sleeping in our streets forever and while that\u2019s happening people feel more emboldened to come,\u201d Rodriguez explained.
\nReporting from outside of a church aiding migrants here in downtown El Paso. This is a crisis. \u2066@DailyCaller\u2069\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/ttTwac4Q3F
\n\u2014 Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer)\u00a0January 8, 2023
\nIn fiscal year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection\u00a0encountered\u00a0more than 2.3 million migrants at the southern border.
\nIllegal immigrants lined the streets around Sacred Heart Church in downtown El\u00a0Paso. Some of them were exploiting the situation by charging locals for public parking spots while others were stealing cellphones, some of the illegal immigrants said and the DCNF observed.
\nThe area is also surrounded by nonprofit organizations, church groups and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is distributing food and other forms of aid to the homeless illegal immigrants. City buses are pulled over and filled with illegal immigrants trying to stay warm.
\nIt\u2019s something that Biden needs to see, Rodriguez said.
\n\u201cAnd I hope he sees it from the perspective of El Pasoans, not so much the migrants, because he was elected to represent El Pasoans. And he sees that this is very devastating on our community, this is very hard on our community and it\u2019s something that we don\u2019t want, it\u2019s something that we did not ask for,\u201d she added.
\nThe White House didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n