Rep. Vicente Gonzalez's 'Border Crisis' Denial Could Cost him his Congressional Seat

One of the staunchest supporters of an “open-borders” immigration policy is Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, who represents Texas’ 15^th congressional district and doesn't believe there is a "border crisis."

“The crisis is not at the border…I know the border really well,” Rep. Vicente Gonzalez recently stated.

Rep. Gonzalez argues that the real problem lies in “three Central American countries” and not in Mexico.

"When people say we have a crisis on our border, I say, 'No, we don’t have a crisis at the border, we have a crisis in three Central American countries," Gonzalez said.

But like many Americans, including the whole of the U.S. Border Patrol, small business owner, and Republican Congressional Candidate Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez, disagrees with Rep. Gonzalez and believes that the “border wall” needs to be built.

In addition to supporting former President Donald Trump’s legacy immigration initiative, De La Cruz-Hernandez asserts that the “catch and release program” that both Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden have championed, needed to be stopped, and that President Trump’s “remain in Mexico policy” needs to be reimplemented.

“He has not met with our Border Patrol agents,” said De La Cruz-Hernandez during an interview with Texas Politics. “He Refuses to meet with border patrol leadership.”

Rep. Jody Arrington (R), who has endorsed De La Cruz-Hernandez’s congressional campaign against Rep. Gonzalez, told Texas Politics that he was disappointed that so many of his Democrat colleagues in the House of Representatives have not stood up to the Biden administration about the crisis along the border.

“We’re at a place in our country where you cannot remain silent and you cannot put your party in front of your principles, in front of the security of the American people,” said Rep. Arrington. “I saw Henry Cuellar (Congressman) have the courage to say something, and I respect that, but we are not hearing that enough.”

During the 2020 presidential election. Rep. Gonzalez, who was one of the original co-sponsors of the Article of Impeachment filed against President Trump,  narrowly defeated De La Cruz-Hernandez by less than 3 percentage points, even as he raised three times the number of campaign dollars she did.

Gonzalez raised $1.2 million to De La Cruz-Hernandez’s $422K.

With the Republican-led state legislature remapping all of the congressional seats later this year, and with Texas having garnered 2 new congressional districts, Gonzalez’s slightly Democratic-leaning congressional seat is all but a toss-up, and possibly a pickup seat for Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections.

All eyes are on Texas's Rio Grande Valley as Republicans have an opportunity to pick up three Democrat-held congressional districts.