"Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade called out Democratic El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser Wednesday for refusing to call out the Biden administration for the crisis at the southern border.
As Leeser declares a state of emergency ahead of the end of Title 42, he was asked repeatedly by Kilmeade whether the policies of the Biden administration are to blame.
"His policies did this, he broke the border, destroyed your city, and he wasn't called out for it, and that's on you," Kilmeade told Leeser, who argued that the characterizations were "false narratives."
Leeser said he is grateful Biden came to meet with officials and see the city in January. In response, Kilmeade noted to the mayor that the city cleaned up prior to Biden's arrival and emphasized that it was the only visit from the president in his two-plus years in office.
Prior to Biden's January border visit, "El Paso being cleaned up as if nothing unusual ever happened there," the National Border Patrol Council tweeted. "Just in time for Biden's ‘visit to the border.’"
"We suggest just landing in Des Moines, Iowa and telling him it's El Paso. He'll never know the difference," the union wrote.
WITH TITLE 42'S END A MONTH AWAY, BIDEN ADMIN MAKING MOVES TO DEAL WITH SURGE
"Well, let me explain something that was a very incorrect statement. When the president came, the numbers had gone down, and you were able to see that they were going down," said Leeser.
Kilmeade responded, "You cleaned up the streets, Mr. Mayor. You cleaned up the streets for the president. That was not a candid look of El Paso. And you know that."
Leeser defended his statement about the recent uptick in migrants at the border.
"Remember, in December, the numbers went down all the way through to just recently and the numbers have increased recently. Why have they increased recently? Because Title 42 is scheduled to expire."
CBP statistics show that only about 46% of migrant encounters at the border resulted in a Title 42 expulsion.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified to Senate lawmakers last month that of the nearly 1.3 million migrants in FY 2022 who were processed via Title 8, only about 360,000 were deported.
"You're in a bad situation, and you should call out the administration on it and help your people," said Kilmeade
Leeser argued that the immigration system has been broken since long before the Biden administration, as Kilmeade responded that migration numbers have exploded in the last two years.
"It is up 200 plus percent since this administration took over and broke it, and Mayorkas is an embarrassment to this country, and he's destroyed your city."
"That's a very false narrative," Leeser concluded.
The Biden administration has approved sending 1,500 active-duty U.S. troops to the southern border in the coming days amid concerns that tens of thousands of migrants will surge into the country once Title 42 is lifted, sources tell Fox News.
The U.S. soldiers will come from a variety of active duty Army units and will serve for 90 days in mostly administrative and transport roles to free up law enforcement and Border Patrol, according to two senior U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.
Title 42 is set to expire on May 11th.
Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, Liz Friden, and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report
