Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, argued for a two-pronged approach to border policy Thursday afternoon, opening up some legal channels for immigration, particularly work visas, while also cracking down on border enforcement.
“Border security and immigration are two separate topics, and everyone in America should be against people that are coming over illegally,” Gonzales told Meet the Press NOW. “In the same breath, we should welcome those that want to come to the United States legally.”
Gonzales had taken aim at House Republicans for their posture on the issue earlier in February, claiming that the party was playing politics on immigration rather than actually getting to work on effective reforms.
“My district is over 42% of the southern border, 823 miles. Places like Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Uvalde, El Paso. We are at the forefront of this crisis. So I can’t have political grandstanding and go home,” he said.
“Every administration falls into this trap, whether it’s Biden, whether it’s Obama, Bush, Trump,” Gonzales said. “They focus on the illegal aspect of the immigration crisis instead of the enforcement part of it and the legal aspect of it.”
Gonzales’ ideas for strengthening border security included labeling cartels as terrorist organizations, enacting harsher penalties for drug smugglers and increasing the flow of resources to law enforcement agents. He advocated specifically for a 14% pay raise for Border Patrol agents.
Asked about possible reactions from the Mexican government around a reclassification of cartels as terrorist groups, Gonzales noted that he met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the two “had about a four-hour conversation, a dialogue back and forth.” Rather than “sending in the Marines,” Gonzales said labeling the cartels as terrorists meant “going for the thing that hurts the cartels the most. And that is their money.”
On immigration, Gonzales urged Congress to come together and pass legislation on measures such as work visas.
“These are people coming in to fill jobs,” he said. “We know who they are. They’re filling jobs no one else will fill. I think if you do those two things, you can secure this border.”