The Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, praised the Biden administration's handling of the immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border, but criticized the federal government's ineptitude at providing funding under former President Donald Trump.

In a Sunday interview with CNN host Abby Phillip, Mayor John Giles said that President Joe Biden and his newly installed Cabinet leaders have been able to provide funding and "boots-on-the-ground" assistance for both the border crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. Giles touted the Biden pandemic relief package as well as the administration's response to the border crisis—both problems he described as "clearly ongoing."

"I am a veteran of the last border surge, so we are very nervous about the surge we see in refugees that are crossing the border," he said. "I've been impressed so far with this administration. I had an opportunity to talk with [Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorakas about a week ago and I told him the experience we had a couple years ago and he was very aware of it. So we've had boots-on-the-ground from the administration here in Phoenix and in Mesa and we've explained to them that there are a lot of compassionate people in our communities."