Democratic Rep. Greg Casar (Texas) criticized President Biden’s new executive policy that will limit asylum seekers at the southern border, arguing that it appeals to GOP “talking points” on immigration and will not actually reduce illegal crossings.
“The Republican Party here in Congress tries to cover up its own failures by scapegoating immigration. It’s the oldest trick in the book and they continue to advocate closing legal avenues for migration and pointing to chaos at the border,” Casar said Tuesday in an interview with MSNBC.
“Unfortunately, it created this political pressure that makes the President today respond by restricting asylum, which will not work because it does not really reduce the number of people who are expelled from their homes in Latin America”, he added. “It doesn’t actually create new legal pathways for people to migrate here.”
The White House on Tuesday announced widely anticipated executive action that will turn away asylum-seeking migrants illegally crossing the southern border at times when there is a high volume of daily encounters.
The order will take effect when the seven-day average of daily border encounters exceeds 2,500 between ports of entry, meaning it will take effect immediately. The last time the average number of daily encounters fell below 2,500 was in the first month of Biden’s presidency.
Casar, who is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the House Progressive Caucus, said legal pathways must be created to ensure migrants do not pass through “cartels or wait in line” at the southern border.
“If we are to address what is happening in our community regarding immigration, we should finally provide protections to our Dreamers and the long-time families here. And third, we need to do what people in DC don’t want to talk about, which is how U.S. policies are actually contributing, especially in places like Latin America, to the hunger, poverty and violence that is it driving people out of their homes in record numbers?”
Casar is among several House liberals who have criticized President Biden’s executive action, arguing that it belies America’s historic place as a global refuge for persecuted people.
But critics, like Biden, place most of the blame on Republicans for sinking a bipartisan immigration reform package twice this year at the direction of former President Trump. Democratic critics have argued that Republicans prevent Biden from having the resources to address the border crisis in a more orderly and humane way.
“Congress needs to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but other than that, the President has options available, and Congress should be talking about those options,” Casar said, later adding, “We need a clearer vision that isn’t only republican light. [former] President Trump says he’s going to solve the problem and he’s going to crack down, but we know he’s a crook and a crook.”
The Texas Democrat, who represents Texas’ 35th Congressional District, which stretches from east Austin to parts of San Antonio, said he is drafting legislation that would “reduce the amount the United States is contributing to forced migration.”
“We need a strategy that the American people believe will work, which means one, working in Latin America to reduce forced migration, two, having legal avenues for order at the border and three, protecting the people here.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
