A Texas congressman who represents the largest district on the U.S.-Mexico border accused members of Congress of feigning interest in resolving the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.
GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales accused Democratic and Republican lawmakers of faking interest in the state of the border, where more than 5 million noncitizens have been encountered attempting to enter the United States since President Joe Biden took office.
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“There's a reason why we haven't gotten significant border security done and why we haven't seen significant immigration reform done,” Gonzales told the Washington Examiner. “It is in the interest of many politicians to have this crisis continue to flare up.”
For Gonzales, as well as Texas Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who also have border districts, the mass releases of hundreds of thousands of immigrants onto the streets of their communities since 2021 have had significant effects on healthcare facilities, nonprofit groups, and transportation systems. That burden has not dissipated in 24 months.
“The people that I represent aren’t going, ‘Hey, Tony, let's keep this thing going so that way we can win back the presidency in 2025,'" said Gonzales. “The people in my district are going, ‘Make it stop today. And I don't care who you’ve got to work with in order to get that done.' ... Others can posture, and others can drop bills that are messaging and blame the other side ... I don't have that luxury.”
Gonzalez, whose district is on the farthest southeast part of the state and runs along the Gulf of Mexico, chided Republicans atop the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for choosing to hold a hearing in his district Wednesday night without telling him in advance that the committee would be on his home turf.
“This partisan hearing was organized in secret and undercuts any meaningful bipartisan conversations,” Gonzalez said in a statement issued late Wednesday evening. “I urge the Chairwoman and Republican Leadership to stop using South Texas for political theater and engage in meaningful conversations on how to adequately address the fentanyl crisis, fix our immigration system and deliver actual results. Do it for the constituents that elected us.”
Gonzales, whose 800 miles of border district runs from south-central Texas to El Paso on the state’s border with New Mexico, does ultimately believe that the Republican Party will coalesce around a series of bills that address immigration and the border.
House GOP members who lean further right have called out Gonzales for being the roadblock in Rep. Chip Roy’s attempt to pass one such border bill.
Gonzales maintained that his focus was on “tangible, meaningful bills that ultimately tackle the crisis” and “not just messaging” gestures that the GOP can blame Democrats for refusing to support.
In the lead-up to the midterm elections last November, Republicans advertised their plan to introduce policies that would reduce the number of people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. Plans largely consisted of reimplementing policies from the Trump administration, some of which are tied up in court battles or were rescinded by Biden.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the right-leaning Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said in January that she expected much of the legislation that Republicans introduce this year to be more for show than actual policymaking. Expect “messaging” types of bills that score points with supporters but do not prevent or fix the current issue, Vaughan said.
Republicans have followed through on vows to hold the Biden administration accountable for its enforcement of federal immigration policies over the past two years. Its Oversight, Homeland Security, and Judiciary committees put Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on notice last year that they would hold hearings to investigate the border crisis and could move to impeach him.
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Congress has failed to pass comprehensive immigration reforms for nearly three decades. This year marks the 10-year anniversary since the last major attempt in 2013 when the Senate’s "Gang of Eight" came up short.
“There are few signs that suggest that 2023 will be a year of sweeping breakthroughs on the immigration front in Congress, though smaller targeted actions may be feasible, particularly in the legal immigration realm,” Migration Policy Institute’s communications director Michelle Mittelstadt said in a recent email.