AUSTIN, Texas -- Austin Mayor Steve Adler on Wednesday released a statement addressing a claim made on Fox News that he, along with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, illegally crossed the border into Mexico.

Adler, as part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, visited the U.S./Mexico border in June to observe the Tornillo migrant shelter in Texas.

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The Fox News report states Adler and de Blasio entered Mexico illegally during the visit and disobeyed an order from a Border Patrol agent.

The reports suggests the mayors were denied access to the detention facility and then attempted to gain access by circumventing security by entering Mexico and accessing the facility from that side. The report states the pair was briefly detained by an agent. 

The report cites a letter from Border Patrol stating the mayors violated U.S. law and could have faced up to two years in prison for their actions.

Adler and de Blasio denied the account of the report. Adler issued the following statement to Spectrum News Wednesday afternoon:

"We were never detained. I wish the border agents were devoting all this effort to reuniting children with their families, as the courts have required. If this is an attempt to intimidate or silence such calls, it won’t work."