TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — On Wednesday, the Douglas mayor and city council held a special meeting and voted three to two in favor of declaring an emergency in their city in response to President Trump’s recent executive orders related to the border.
About a week ago President Trump declared an emergency at the Southern Border.
“Businesses need people to come down and shop,” Robert Victor said.
Victor lives in Douglas and is a former border patrol agent. He addressed the mayor and city council at the meeting, saying he is not in favor or against the proclamation of emergency.
“If people don’t feel safe in border communities they’re not going to show up,” Victor said.
The mayor and city council’s orders are in response to President Trump’s executive orders like deporting undocumented migrants as well as using the military at the border.
“All we’re asking is asking for help. That’s what this proclamation was for,” Douglas Mayor Grijalva said. “Our economy is too fragile right now.”
Grijalva feels like Trump’s policies are going to hurt Douglas’ economy and tourism. He said about seventy percent of Douglas’ sales tax comes from Agua Prieta, Mexico, just about thirty minutes away from Douglas.
“We’re so dependent on Mexico,” he said. “Any Mexican border policy, any policy that has to do with Arizona, its going to affect us in some way so we’re just trying to be proactive.”
Ray Shelton is one of the two councilman who voted not to approve of the proclamation. He said businesses are not being affected yet.
“There’s really not an emergency,” he said. “In many ways like we were 20, 25 years ago as being a cohesive community.”
He also feels like Trump’s policies are positive. He feels as if Douglas’ businesses were affected during the migrant surge two years ago.
“He has that positive attitude. He wants the best for all of our citizens,” he said.
Grijalva also feels like Douglas was hurt by the migrant surge. He said back when he was a councilman, he wanted to introduce an emergency but said the former mayor did not allow him to.
“I’m not making it political. I thought the same thing under Biden,” he said.
The mayor and city council also voted to revisit the proclamation in six months.
Victor feels like the City should be doing more to reach out to the Douglas Port of Entry for statistics on border crossings.
“I thought the mayor and council should reach out to the port director at the Douglas Port of Entry for specific statistics on legal border crossers, pedestrians, and vehicle traffic and see how that might be affected by Trump’s recent proclamations,” Victor said.
——-
Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
