By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano said Friday all of the interactions between migrants and law enforcement officers he saw in a recently disbanded migrant camp here were compassionate and caring.
Lozano made his comments during a press conference he held outside the border fence near the site of the former migrant encampment under the international bridge shortly after noon on Friday. After making a statement saying they are were no migrants left under the bridge, the mayor took questions from members of the media.
Lozano, in response to one question from reporters, pointed out that no migrants had died while the camp was active under the city’s international bridge, even drawing attention to the fact that at least 10 babies had been born there.
This reporter then asked Lozano to describe the interactions he had personally witnessed between migrants and city, county, state and federal law enforcement personnel in the camp.
“It’s unfortunate – and I’m just going to say this – that the White House continues to be silent as far as the humane treatment of the migrants that I witnessed in the camp,” Lozano said.
“There was an agent mounted on a horse, and he was actually pulling out a woman (out of the crowd) because she was going into contractions and ready to give birth right there. They were able to get her on a stretcher and get her into the impromptu medical tent we had right there, and she was in labor. We followed up, and she ended up having her baby, and it was born healthy right here in the Val Verde Regional Medical Center,” the mayor added.
Lozano said he saw officers and agents frequently rendering medical assistance.
“I’ve seen women and men who seemed to be having some kind of heat exposure problem, and the agents would just give away their own water. They gave out diapers and women’s hygienic products. It’s hard to even describe, when you see the agents right there, giving a child an IV,” he said.
“Regardless of whatever perception there is from the public, there was a lot of good that happened,” Lozano added.
The mayor said he also saw agents and officers working to feed migrants before the arrival of a volunteer organization that provided that service.
“I was watching the agents, and at the time we didn’t have a lot of volunteers to distribute food, we had CBP officers and Border Patrol and special ops guys giving people taquitos, providing food, everything they could. At times, I saw them give their own food out because there were just so many people,” Lozano said.
In closing his statements, Lozano said, “I can tell you that to have no fatalities when at the peak time we had 15,000 people is a phenomenon that, I’m just very grateful and I thank all of those that are watching over us.”
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