Representative Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) spoke to Texas Politics regarding the status of Puerto Rico as well as his ongoing campaign to retain his seat in Congress, challenged by former Congresswoman Mayra Flores (R-TX), and the crisis along the southern border.
The Texas congressman brought up the notion that veterans living in Puerto Rico are not receiving the benefits they deserve due to the island’s territorial status. Moreover, he didn’t necessarily lobby for the island to become a state but argued that it should have the appropriate representation in the Legislative Branch.
“I think [veterans living in Puerto Rico] should have the representation that every other territory has. I mean, they're the size of a state. They should have members of Congress who actually are sitting on committees, making informative decisions that are meaningful to this island. I think they should have two representatives in the Senate,” said Rep. Gonzalez.
We then asked if he believes Vice President Kamala Harris (D-TX) should continue her policies at the border if she is elected President. The Texas congressman appeared content with the current Biden/Harris immigration policy, saying that he wouldn't want Harris to go any "softer” at the southern border, and would like to see the U.S. help Mexico police their border.
“Yeah, I mean, I’d not go softer for sure, right? I mean, we kind of have order on the border and certainly have policies that discourage people from coming to our southern border and working with Mexico to defend their southern border better and engage those countries on root causes,” said Gonzalez. “I mean, it's got to be a strategy that's more holistic.”
He continued, proclaiming some of the policies he’s endorsed during his time in Congress.
“You know, I've been promoting those safe zone ideas that the government has done somewhat of a version of them, but I think we should have safe zones in Central America where migrants under my bill must process and have people process their asylum claim 1500, 2000 miles away from our southern border.”
Finally, Texas Politics asked about those who think Gonzalez is less aggressive in securing the border.
“I don't think anybody believes that, right? I mean, people in South Texas know my positions on the border … In fact, I was the only one many times that would oppose some of the [Biden-Harris] policies on the border and on energy and on so many other things,” said Gonzalez. “One thing that [Former Rep. Mayra Flores] would never do to her party. Another thing is she was here for five months. Why didn’t she have a single proposal on how to fix it? If she talks about border, this border, that border, the other.”
He also stated that she “choked” during the time allotted to her to address the House Homeland Security Committee when she was in office.
“She sat on Homeland Security and couldn't even answer questions when she had time to address the committee; she would waive her five minutes to address the border. What happened? She yielded her entire time. And she's from the border. She complains about the border all the time, but yet, when she was given the opportunity to address issues on the border, she choked,” concluded Gonzalez.
On former Rep. Flores' campaign website, she states that Gonzalez "Supports the Biden Open Border Policies, [and] voted against Border Security & to defund the police." Additionally, Flores attacked Rep. Gonzalez for failing to vote to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
Never forget where national liberal Democrats like Congressman Vicente Gonzalez stand on protecting your rights pic.twitter.com/p2s9oEZ1DK
— Mayra Flores Vallejo (@MayraFloresTX34) September 6, 2024
"Never forget where national liberal Democrats like Congressman Vicente Gonzalez stand on protecting your rights," said Flores.
Gonzalez and Flores will square off in a key battleground 34th Congressional District, a seat Gonzalez won by nearly nine points in 2022.
