Border city mayor pushes back on Trump

Tony Martinez — the Democratic mayor of Brownsville, Texas, which shares a border with Mexico — pushed back on President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of an undocumented immigration crisis on the US border with Mexico.

“What we have is a crisis that’s been manufactured through words and it’s totally fiction,” Martinez told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” Tuesday. “Our streets are safe, our community is moving along as it should be, we have a lot of great projects going on and none of us are fearful of our lives because of this immigration situation.”

Martinez went on to further criticize rhetoric about a supposed border crisis.

“I think it’s a bit insidious to say the things that they’re saying,” he added. “The discourse that’s going on and the conversation that’s going on is very troubling for mayors across the nation.”

Martinez also defended the undocumented immigrants coming across the border.

“These immigrants are coming over here, turning themselves in, because they’re fleeing for their lives,” he said. “Most of these people are running away from the cartels and most of them are from Central America. … They’re either going to die where they’re at or they’re going to die trying.”