NYC mayor de Blasio disputes Border Protection allegations he crossed border illegally
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio lashed out at the Trump administration and denied any wrongdoing after a letter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection emerged stating the mayor and his security detail illegally crossed over the U.S.-Mexico border during a visit to Texas last month.
During a news conference Wednesday at the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn, de Blasio called the allegations “absolutely ridiculous” and an attempt by the Trump administration to create a distraction amid the immigration debate involving illegal immigrant children.
“[This] is another way to distract [the American people] from an inhumane policy,” de Blasio said about the letter being released about two weeks after it was issued.
“Threats by the Trump administration will not stop me from speaking out and won’t stop my fellow mayors from speaking out,” the mayor said.
In a letter sent on June 25 and obtained by Fox News, CBP said de Blasio and his security detail, run by the New York Police Department, illegally crossed the border near El Paso on June 21. The mayor and his security detail were spotted taking photos by a Border Patrol agent on the Rio Grande River flood plain south of the Tornillo, Texas, Port of Entry.
They had been denied earlier in the day entrance to a holding facility for immigrant children, which de Blasio said on Wednesday “made no sense.”
The letter said a border patrol agent approached a group of 10 to 12 people and asked if they received authorization from a Border Patrol or public affairs officer to be in the area. New York Police Department inspector Howard Redmond was with de Blasio and the group did not have a Border Patrol agent or public affairs officer with them, according to the letter.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio looks through a closed gate at the Port of Entry facility, in Fabens, Texas, where tent shelters are being used to house separated family members.. (AP)
When asked how they entered the vicinity, the group reportedly pointed toward Mexico.
“The agent informed the group that they had illegally crossed the United States/Mexico Border at a place other than a designated port of entry and that this was a violation of federal law,” the letter read.
The agent ordered the group to remain at the scene, but they disregarded the request and walked across a river bed and back into Mexico, according to the letter. The agent had left to get a supervisor to take the group to an official crossing for an inspection per federal law.
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