Gonzalez Says 'Pressure Needs to Stay on Mexico' Over Border Crisis

In an exclusive interview with Texas Politics, Texas Representative Vicente Gonzalez (D) gave his thoughts on the border and President Joe Biden’s (D) upcoming State of the Union speech.

“Well, I think he should highlight the infrastructure projects he’s done, some of the legislation he’s passed, I think it’s important for him to bring the bipartisan border security bill that I think would have passed had Donald Trump not have been involved. And we definitely need those resources on the southern border,” said Rep. Gonzalez.

The congressman continued, “You can’t be complaining about the border and not be willing to fund it. So, I think those are some of the issues that I hope he highlights.”

The Texas lawmaker made it clear that he thought that Biden would indeed touch on the border.

“I certainly believe he is,” said Gonzalez.

Earlier in the year, Gonzalez stated that he would not be opposed to some popular GOP legislation regarding the border. One policy the congressman shared his hypothetical support for was the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Gonzalez summarized his thoughts on the matter and stated, “Under my proposal, if they come without going through that safe zone they could be immediately removed back," and expressed his openness to the Remain in Mexico policy. Furthermore, he highlighted the discussions Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Defense Antony Blinken and Mexico have had over the issue of border security.

“Yeah, I’m for that. We’ve talked to the Mexicans recently. I think Mayorkas was down there yesterday, and Secretary Blinken, and they’ve had some serious conversations. And Mexico has raised their cooperation the last few months.,” said the Texas politician.

“They’re actually flying people back to their country from the South, and they’re actually flying people from the North back to the Southern part of the country. So, I think the pressure needs to stay on Mexico to do a lot more. I am totally O.K. with keeping people on the other side of the border,” concluded Gonzalez.