U.S. Customs and Border Protection has found a great use of its time: starting trivial feuds with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The agency accused de Blasio of illegally crossing the border between the United States and Mexico during a trip to an immigrant detention center in Texas, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
De Blasio denied the accusation.
The letter said de Blasio and his group, who were visiting the Texas border on June 21, were denied entry into the detention center, and illegally crossed over to Mexico and back into the U.S. to get a better view of the holding facility.
A customs agent reportedly spotted de Blasio taking photos of the holding facility and asked if he was authorized to be there. A New York Police Department inspector who runs the mayor’s security detail said no. The group pointed to Mexico when asked how they arrived, the letter further stated.
When the agent told them to stay where they were while he got a supervisor, the mayor and his group disobeyed and drove off, the letter alleges.
De Blasio’s spokesman, Eric Phillips, said the group did nothing illegal in an email he sent to the AP Tuesday.
The mayor crossed the border with the direct approval and under the supervision of the border patrol supervisor at this port of entry. 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 CBP had no comments.
De Blasio has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, denouncing the administration’s family separation policy and even calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He’s clearly on bad terms with CBP.
More to the point, though, CBP is picking fights over little things when perhaps it would be better off helping the government meet its deadline to reunite migrant children with their families.