Mayors of cities hit hard by shutdown say no winners emerged from standoff
Two mayors of American cities hit hard by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history say the stalemate placed enormous stress on their communities, particularly among federal workers and their families. Dee Margo, the Republican mayor of El Paso, Texas, said the 35-day standoff didn't benefit anyone.
"I don't think there were any winners in this shutdown," Margo said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "I don't know how you can talk about winners and losers."
Margo and Michael Passero, the mayor of New London, Connecticut, joined "Face the Nation" to discuss the impact of the prolonged government shutdown on their respective cities. Margo leads a diverse border city with one of the busiest ports of entry into the U.S. Passero's city of New London is a coastal New England community and home to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Because El Paso is a nexus of movement of goods and people both between two states, Texas and New Mexico, and two countries, the U.S. and Mexico, Margo said the lapse in federal funding for agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had a profound effect on his border community. He said thousands of federal workers, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, missed two paychecks. Margo added that El Paso's main food bank had begun to run out of funds.
Asked about President Trump's belief that there is a security crisis near the U.S.-Mexico border warranting the construction of a barrier, Margo refused to say there was any sort of crisis in El Paso, calling it "the safest city in the United States with a population above 500,000." Still, he said the city is facing "some issues" because of the large numbers of Central American migrants who are heading north to seek asylum in the U.S. Margo said the city and nonprofit groups have been struggling to find housing for migrant families released by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE).
Although he said fencing should be part of a broader strategy to secure the border, Margo said lawmakers and the president should listen to those with expertise on border security to craft a comprehensive plan. "My position is that a fence is a part of the process, but I'm still waiting to hear what Homeland Security wants as opposed to what the political leadership wants," he said.
Passero said New London was also hit "very hard" by the shutdown, particularly the Coast Guard units and staff in the city. The academy's faculty and staff, along with the rest of the Coast Guard, were not paid for four weeks.
"These are people who are serving the nation and have not been paid for over a month," Passero said, adding later, "The inequity of it, having our Coast Guard unpaid while other members of the military are paid, is unfair— and it's unpatriotic."
Passero said the continuing resolution the president signed to fund the government for three weeks is just a temporary fix that will continue to fuel uncertainty among federal workers.
"We're not standing at ease with just a three-week reprieve," he said.
