WASHINGTON — A Mexican mayor earlier this month urged her constituents to get their relatives in Texas to vote for House Democratic candidate Bobby Pulido because he would “take care” of their city if elected to Congress.

“We need to get out the vote for him,” said Patricia Frinee Cantú Garza, mayor of General Bravo in Nuevo León, less than two hours from the US border, in a recent Spanish-speaking Facebook reel,which The Post reviewed and translated.

“Talk to your families in the United States. Make sure they go vote,” Garza added, noting that she would be presenting the keys to the city to Pulido, a two-time Latin Grammy winner, on April 3.

“When he becomes a congressman,” she also said, “we want him to take care of Bravo.”

The city ceremony celebrating Pulido in General Bravo never received enough funding and was cancelled, the Mexican outlet El Norte reported.

Pulido has headlined concerts in General Bravo as recently as November 2023. Local officials promoted the show and the current mayor and her husband, then-mayor Edgar Cantu Fernandez, appeared.

“Bobby doesn’t know the mayor and has never met her,” a Pulido campaign spokesperson said in a statement. “He declined the invitation, didn’t attend the event, and isn’t responsible for unsolicited comments made by other people.”

Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, said the statements wouldn’t pose legal or ethical issues for Pulido — but that the remarks may have a political cost, given the focus on foreign involvement in US elections in recent years.

“If you were making financial contributions, that would be a different thing, but just to exhort people to vote,” Smith said, “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for them.”

Jessica Furst Johnson, a partner at the Republican-aligned campaign finance and election law firm Lex Politica, noted that event appeared to function as an in-kind contribution to Pulido’s campaign but it would be difficult to determine without “more details.”

Congressional Republicans have thus far failed to pass a bill this session aimed at beefing up identification requirements for voters when registering, though many have said laws as currently written are too lax and could lead to non-citizens casting ballots.

State investigations and audits have shown in recent years that thousands of non-citizens ended up being registered, but few have ever illegally voted. Those who have are federally prosecuted.

Pulido is challenging incumbent GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz in the Texas district this November and has faced questions from the press about his ties to Mexico, where he has said he maintains a home for parts of the year.

The Latino music star admitted to splitting time with his family between there and Texas just two years before launching his campaign, telling a YouTube show in a 2023 interview that he’s a “summer Mexican” but “winter Texan.”

“We live on the border,” he has also said. “My wife and I have a house in Mexico. So, we travel there, and we spend time over there.”

There was no indication of a current mortgage on a property either there or in the US, according to financial disclosures that Pulido filed April 15 with the House. Those filings also revealed he holds a checking account at a Mexican bank.

“Bobby lives in his family home in Edinburg, Texas, where he was born, raised, and is raising his own family,” the Pulido campaign rep noted. “He is in complete compliance with all House disclosure rules — the property you are referencing is not his primary residence so is not required to be listed.”

AUSTIN, Texas — Criticism is mounting over the threat to withhold public safety grants from Austin and other major Texas cities, with opponents arguing the move is politically motivated as both the governor and attorney general seek office this year.

“Defunding the public safety for political reasons was wrong when the Democrats did it; still wrong when the Republicans do it,” the former executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, Charley Wilkison, wrote on X.

The statement came hours after Governor Greg Abbott threatened to cut $2.5 million in public safety funding to Austin. The governor expressed opposition to Austin’s decision to update its policy governing how police handle administrative warrants used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in immigration detentions.

“The city has updated its general orders to align with state and federal law and also to protect the Fourth Amendment of Austin residents who should be free from unlawful search and seizure,” said Austin City Councilmember Mike Siegel.

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Houston and Dallas are also facing similar threats from the governor.

“The statement from the governor’s office was really disappointing and frankly it’s wrong on the law and it’s wrong on what’s good for public safety,” Siegel said.

In a statement provided in response to a request for an interview, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas said, “Law enforcement officers continue to be dragged into political warfare while real public safety issues are ignored.”

The president of the Austin Police Association did not respond to a request for comment regarding the potential impact on officers.

A request for comment to the governor’s office received a previously issued statement from Abbott’s press secretary, which read: “A city’s failure to comply with its contract agreement with the state to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws makes the state less safe. It can have deadly consequences. Cities in Texas are expected to make the streets safer, not more deadly.”

Siegel defended the city council’s position, stating, “I can speak for myself as one of 11 voting members of our city council. We’re not going to sell our values for a couple million dollars in public safety grants.”