Karen Gleason
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales today said the United States of America will welcome immigrants who are “the best and brightest the world has to offer,” but only if they enter the country legally.
Gonzales made his remarks after a group of Congressional Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California), toured a section of the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, a visit that included interviews with Border Patrol personnel and a visit to a migrant processing center.
Nearly all of those participating in the press conference laid the current immigrant surge squarely at the feet at President Joe Biden and his perceived policies to open the country’s southern border.
“There’s no other way to claim it, than a Biden border crisis,” McCarthy said at the start of the press conference.
McCarthy urged Biden to visit the border and see the mounting crisis for himself.
“This is where he should bring Air Force One. This is where he should look the people in the eye. This is where he should talk to the border agents and let them know that this is beyond a crisis. He can continue to deny it, but the only way to solve it is to first admit what he has done, and if he will not reverse action, it will take Congressional action to do it. And that’s why we’re here, we want to find solutions,” McCarthy said.
The press conference also included Gonzales (R-Texas) and U.S. Reps. John Katko (R-New York), David Joyce (R-Ohio), Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tennessee), Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) and Yvette Herrell (R-New Mexico).
Gonzales, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, said, “Today is about the men and women in green. Our Border Patrol agents are doing God’s work, keeping our borders safe, and for that, I want them to know, we have your back.
“I am grateful that Leader McCarthy and the other members of the Congressional delegation made it down today. For too long, our border communities have been forgotten. That has changed, that is changing today.
“America is a nation of immigrants. We are also a nation of laws. Border security and legal immigration go hand-in-hand. We are a compassionate people. We do not want to see overcrowding in our spaces. We do not want to see families make dangerous treks across countries that they don’t understand and put themselves at risk.
“What we want to do is attract the best and the brightest that this world has to offer, and we want to them to come in a legal fashion, and we can do that. But that first starts by supporting our border security. Border security and legal immigration go hand-in-hand,” Gonzales said.
