Mayor of Laredo, Texas, says busing migrants to other parts of Texas is costing taxpayers $8,000 a day and begs Biden administration to visit and fix the crisis

Laredo, Texas Mayor Pete Saenz said on Friday the city's current arrangement with Border Patrol officials is costing his constituents as much as $8,000 per day - and that pleas for help to Joe Biden's White House have fallen on 'deaf ears.'

 'Mind you, if we can’t get reimbursed, obviously it’s unsustainable and at some point, we've got to stop this and seek other relief,' Saenz told KGNS.

He estimated the city could go 'about a month' without getting paid back. 

He added, 'By then, we’re hoping, maybe the Biden administration will attend to the border and stop this.' 

Saenz accused the federal government of 'not really stepping up' despite his repeat requests for help. 

'For months I've been shouting, ''federal government please send resources, resources,'' but so far it's been a deaf ear and it's gotten so complicated and we end up with these crises,' Saenz said. 

And not just one crisis - he said the situation in his city now is a 'triple crisis.'

Laredo, Texas Mayor Pete Saenz said his city is now grappling with a 'triple crisis'

Saenz accused the Biden administration of not doing enough to help - adding that the federal government is the only body with enough money and resources to find a solution

'We have a border crisis, a health crisis and a humanitarian crisis - so it's all upon us and we're doing the best we can,' he said.       

The new deal involves migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley being processed in Laredo before being transported to a facility leased by the city from a private company.

Laredo would then foot the bill for sending migrants to different cities within Texas. 

Saenz said he believes 'there's a good chance' Laredo could eventually be reimbursed and called it 'the best course of action' at least 'at this point in time.'

Saenz said the aim of the arrangement was to send the migrants to 'larger hubs' like Houston and Dallas. 

Despite the hefty price tag to taxpayers the mayor also said it's the least expensive route available to the city, against the backdrop of an increased number of migrants coming to the US southern border.  

Migrants are bused out of Laredo to other Texas cities at a cost of $8,000 per day to taxpayers - an arrangement the mayor said could go on maybe a month without reimbursement (pictured: Asylum seekers line up to be vaccinated in Baja California on August 3)

Before the agreement was reached Laredo was engaged in a lawsuit against the US to try and stop migrants from being taken to the city.

But after a judge asked for more information, city officials decided there wasn't enough time to go through the lengthy legal pathway and made its deal with Border Patrol.

'We decided that the best alternative for us - the course of action - would be to settle and make this arrangement,' Saenz explained.

He added that the alternative would be letting CBP and nonprofit facilities hit capacity, overflow and release migrants 'in the streets.'

'Of course we couldn't deal with that as a city, I think that would be irresponsible on our behalf to allow that,' the local leader said. 'So we had no other choice but to group these migrants - and we can't force them, but I can assure you all of them want to get their destinations as quickly as possible - so they take these buses.'

Like other local Texas officials, Saenz said it was up to Washington to solve the problem.

A new report says encounters at the border reached 210,000 in July alone

The new reported numbers come after record increases in border encounters in the months since Biden took office

'It's a humongous task at this point, but if anyone can do it, it's really the federal government. I mean they've got resources,' he said.

Projected figures for July show a record 210,000 migrant encounters with Border Patrol - up from 188,000 in June. 

In addition to problems caused by overcrowding officials also about migrants testing positive for COVID being released into the interior as the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc and send the US back to coronavirus infection numbers not seen since before the wide availability of vaccines. 

McAllen, Texas Mayor Javier Villalobos said last week that of 1,800 migrants coming to his city daily, 15 percent are COVID-positive. 

Critics of the Biden White House blame the administration's weaker enforcement of Title 42 compared to Donald Trump for the number of migrants infected with the virus arriving within the US. 

Title 42 was authorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow border officials to turn asylum-seekers away upon arrival in a bid to manage surging COVID cases.

Customs and Border Patrol has not yet responded to a request for comment.