Days after the expiration of Title 42, migrant crossings at the southern U.S. border are surprisingly low but officials say the situation is still very fluid and they are preparing for a potential surge to come.

Mayors from New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Denver requested a meeting with President Biden for more support as they brace for more migrants.

El Paso's mayor, Oscar, declared a state of emergency before the pandemic year policy ended.

He joins Walter Isaacson to discuss the situation at the border.

>> Thank you.

Welcome to the show.

Title 42, which was a way of restricting immigration during the Covid emergency, and did last Thursday.

You are mayor of El Paso.

He said over the weekend that you did not see an expected big influx of new immigrants.

what is the situation now and what is happening?

Mayor Leeser: we had a big influx prior to midnight but after that, their numbers have really gone down.

On Saturday, we had a total of 405 and on Sunday, we had 381, which is way down from the numbers we used to be seeing back in December.

We saw well over 2500 a day.

Walter: why is that?

Mayor Leeser: a lot of them are coming in prior to the expiration of Title 42 and a lot of them came in which is very unfortunate.

They came in with the understanding that if they were in here prior to the expiration of Title 42, that they would be able to get political asylum.

The borders were closed in.

The second part is the difference between Title 42 and title eight.

On Title 42, you could come back in as many times as you want with no consequences.

On title eight, if you do come in and you are not following the immigration laws through the legal path and you are returned, you have to wait five years minimum to return back into the U.S.

The second time, you will not have the opportunity to return again.

Walter: explained to me title eight.

It is -- explain to me the other title.

We are talking a whole lot about titles but this is part of the immigration acts and it is saying this rule is one we will enforce so explain that to us.

Mayor Leeser: the city of El Paso does not enforce any immigration laws.

Border patrol and customs so that is a law that has been in effect since 1940 and like I said, we are here to help and make sure asylum-seekers continue to be treated in a very respectful way and continue to work to make sure they are safe but also the citizens of the city of El Paso.

Walter: this has been around for 80 years.

Why did it not help in the past to restrict some of this immigration?

Mayor Leeser: because we all know that the federal immigration process is broken and it needs to be fixed.

If you asked me what do you hope for now that the numbers are down and the numbers are there, that someday comes up with a long-term solution to work on, fixing the immigration system in the United States.

Walter: let's drill down on that.

What would you do to fix the immigration system?

Mayor Leeser: one of the things that is really important that we need to fix is the -- to make sure we get additional judges to expedite -- we need to really expedite the time it takes when someone comes in through the immigration process, the legal process, and then they get a court date.

Once they get a court date, it could be four or five years.

I believe it needs to be a lot quicker.

While they are waiting for the court process, I would like to see people have the opportunity continue to work.

There's a lot of people that need jobs and we have a lot of people who would love to hire a lot of these people so it's really important that we continue to expedite the process and work forward.

What would we do in Washington?

I really believe that we need to learn to diggers -- disagree as far as Congress and Senate is concerned and learn to compromise to come up with a process that's really going to help not only the United States but the countries around us.

Walter: you have been working with a lot of your mayors along the border.

You know politicians of both parties are there.

Do you think that if people like yourself came up with a plan, you could come up with a plan that could be passed in Washington?

Mayor Leeser: we all need to work together and I don't think one person coming up with a plan -- we live it every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I see how we work with people.

The biggest thing I would love to see is to continue to work how we can make sure people are treated totally with respect and continue to be treated that way.

We all need to work together.

The board of mayors has been talking and we continue to talk but we are talking about how we continue to work together for the current crisis.

Not, you know, how we are going to fix the immigration process because that Callista Washington and we are not here to do immigration law.

We are here to help them and assist them but also continue to work in our local laws to make sure our citizens also continue to be safe.

Walter: you are talking about fixing in the long term the immigration issue, a comprehensive immigration reform bill at some point.

Is that something that should he to border security or should we get border security right first before we try comprehensive immigration reform?

Mayor Leeser: that should be of them best way to do it and how do we make sure we can do that in a timely manner?

I'm not here to tell them what to do.

I can tell them what we see every day and we would love to see the long-term solution comes through.

You know, it now rather than later.

Walter: you say you would love to tell them what you are seeing every day.

Tell us.

What are you living through each day?

Mayor Leeser: we see every day that people are coming to the United States.

They are bringing their family.

Or they come by themselves.

They are here for a better life themselves and their families and how we can help them.

We talk to them.

We see them.

We were there the day before Title 42 expired to see people who were waiting and ready in the shelters in Mexico and there was 20 people at the second-largest shelter.

They are at the border, ready to come in.

That night before it expired, there was 1800 people so we see that everyday but when we talk to them, they all want to go to work.

The mayor came down and talked to them.

Every one of them raised their hand because they are ready to go to work and they want to make a better life for their families and themselves.

Walter: these are supposed to be asylum-seekers.

How many of them are really asylum-seekers and how many just want to come here for better jobs.

Mayor Leeser: that is something, you know, that the federal government has to determine.

That is not something we determined.

We treat people with compassion and the way we want to be treated and we talk to them about what they are looking for and why they are here and what they want to do.

The federal government has its process and that is something we do not implement.

That is something that they look at.

I want to see more immigration judges to be able to determine work and do it anymore -- in a lot quicker manner and also allow people to go to work.

Walter: tell us what it's like in El Paso on a day-to-day basis.

You have a lot of people coming in before the end of Title 42.

Have them in churches and in schools.

What do you do to make sure that they feel comfortable?

Mayor Leeser: our job is to assist.

We have had a lot of law enforcement that has worked together to come together and not one person, not the mayor, not the county, not one person has done it.

We have all done it together, whether it is the school security, we all work together.

You have stated his we work together that it was a very orderly system once Title 42 expired and it will continue to be that way.

Our priority as elected officials is our community and we will continue to do that but also make sure that our asylum-seekers are treated in a respectful way but also make sure our community is safe.

Walter: one of the things that has happened is many of these asylum-seekers have families somewhere else.

Jobs perhaps that they want to go to and you are helping send transportation so they can go up north, up to New York.

Others are being transported without any real place to go and they are being sent on buses.

How do you make those decisions and how do people and techies make decisions of who gets best --who gets transported out of Texas?

Mayor Leeser: I cannot tell you how the people in Texas do it back -- but I can tell you how people in El Paso do it.

People are treated with respect.

We want to help them unite with their family and with their friends and where they have a job.

They asked us to help and we help them in that manner and we never send anyone where they would not want to go.

Walter: you said Mayor Eric Adams came down to visit you in El Paso.

Tell me what you all talked about.

Mayor Leeser: we talked about the process and what is going on and we were able to talk to asylum-seekers.

Went to the NGO's.

He sat there and talked to asylum-seekers and asked them why do you want to go to New York?

why are you in the United States?

I was thankful for him to come here and be how we do everyday processes, what we do every day.

I consider Mayor Adams a friend.

Walter: what is happening in El Paso for accommodating the people who have come through?

Do you have enough hospital beds, for example?

do you have enough centers for people to be sheltered?

Do you have enough schools if they want to stay there?

Mayor Leeser: right now, we had the resources we need.

The Biden administration really provided the resources we have needed to provide this service.

At the beginning, they are not coming to El Paso.

They are coming to the United States and they have provided the funding that we needed to make sure we do that.

Right now, the numbers are way down as we talked at the beginning of the show.

We talked about 381 people that came into El Paso that's moving through the United dates yesterday alone compared to 2500 that used to be on a daily basis.

Walter: what else do you need from the federal government?

Mayor Leeser: we are preparing for the unknown.

We don't know what it's going to come in.

We don't know what is going on tomorrow so we continue to prepare.

We have an open line of communication and we will continue to have that open line of communication.

We need to continue to have that line of communication.

We don't know what the unknown is.

I am very thankful.

They worked very well with our community.

They continue to work with them also.

Walter: Vice President Kamala Harris was at one point designated to look at this overall problem.

To what extent has she been involved?

Mayor Leeser: I have not had that conversation and I have not spoken to Vice President Harris but I have spoken to the White House on basically a daily basis that continues to provide the service and they have -- I have always been able to work with them.

Walter: you say you talked to the White House on an almost daily basis.

Who are you talking to there?

What type of services are they providing?

How quickly are they responding?

Mayor Leeser: we talk to people from the Department of homeland security for the most part.

They help with decompression.

That's being able to help us move our asylum-seekers to the next destination or processing, things to help with processing.

They have never not helped us to do that and to make sure our border continues -- the border is not open.

They were not open then, not open today, and they continue to help us with our border control to make sure we have enough men and women to help us do the job we need to do.

Walter: the borders are not open.

The secretary has said that.

There has been a lot of pushback from Republicans.

On the other hand, you know, there is a sense that there is a border security that's pretty strong.

Do you think the borders are secure?

Is it somewhere in between?

Mayor Leeser: no, the borders are closed and they have given us the resources to make sure we help the asylum-seekers when they come into the United States but the borders were closed yesterday and they remain closed today.

Walter: the federal government sent in 1000 500 troops.

What are the troops doing down there?

Mayor Leeser: they continue to assist and help the border patrol and customs.

They are not here to implement federal law were immigration law.

They want to help them whether it is in the office, whether it is preparing for the day.

Whatever it may be, they are not here to implement federal immigration laws.

Walter: there is title eight which we discussed which has an expedited removal process.

That seems to have turned the tide a bit on what people are thinking.

Do you think there has been some shift in the Biden administration to be a little bit tougher about border security?

Mayor Leeser: they are using the laws in our country.

They know that things need to change and that things continue to change.

You are asking me what they think.

I can't tell you what they think but I can tell you it has made a difference as the numbers I have been able to share with you.

Walter: you were born in Mexico and you moved to the U.S. as a child.

You are the first elected mayor of El Paso to be born out of the country.

How does your personal journey help inform what you are doing now?

Mayor Leeser: I am very thankful for all of the opportunities I have had.

I came in as a young boy and did not speak a word of English.

Going through the school system and having the opportunity to work in the area and raise a family has been very important and that is why I believe that everybody needs to be treated with respect and I have always been raised to treat people the way you want to be treated and you will never be disappointed.

Our community in El Paso is a community with a huge heart and they have opened their heart to asylum-seekers and provide food, clothing, and will continue to do that.

And of the things I did want to discuss that was important that we did open up two schools that had been closed down.

We were able to work where we could take over the schools that were not being used and provide shelter for our asylum-seekers to go to their next destination.

Four hours to 72 hours.

Walter: Mayor, thank you for joining us.

Mayor Leeser: thank you.

You have a great day, sir.

Bye-bye.