BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz took a tour down south at the U.S. border in El Paso, Texas, earlier this week.
He recently returned from that trip, which prompted plenty of questions from county residents. They wondered if taxpayers are paying for that trip, and why he felt the need to go there in the first place.
2 On your Side took those questions to the county executive, when he held a news conference on Friday.
"I have an expense account from both the county and National Association of Counties for travel," Poloncarz said, addressing the taxpayers issue.
He then turned his attention to the border, and criticism from the GOP.
"I find it interesting that people are criticizing me because last year I was viciously attacked on this issue," he said, referring to the Erie County Executive race that he won in November.
"My opponent in the campaign just ran continual ads, attacking myself and Democrats, strictly with regards to the immigration issue. Here I go to try to learn a little bit more about it, because we have asylum seekers in our community. We still have over 500 asylum seekers in our community, and I get attacked.
Poloncarz also said it was important for him to see how agents at the border do health screenings, and how they identify foreign gang members trying to enter the country.
Poloncarz also addressed the issue of personal seat licenses for the new Bills stadium during Friday's news conference.
"I found it, first off, very upsetting that they would not announce what the PSL prices were for all of the seats," Poloncarz said. "I'm just disappointed that it's gotten to this point."