Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) (AP Photo)
Talking about the debate over the Department of Homeland Security funding bill, Gallego said, “It’s ridiculous now that we are finding ourselves in this situation--a situation that was created by Republicans.”
“We’re at a point where we’re going to find ourselves with less border security, less TSA screeners, and something that was manufactured by a Republican Party that does not know how to govern,” said Gallego. “And worse above that, the reason they do not know how to govern is because they want to separate families. Let us be clear. The DHS funding amendments that they attach would separate families.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said that the new Republican Congress “looks to be as anti-Hispanic as you can get.”
“But what we’re facing is strong headwind from the new Republican Congress, who are doing every single thing that they can to make it harder for Hispanics and Latinos and other Americans to succeed,” said Castro. “We know one of the first things that they put in their priority list is deporting Dreamers, for example, young children brought here at a young age through no fault of their own.”
“At every step of the way this is a Congress that has been so far and looks to be as anti-Hispanic as you can get,” said Castro.
Members of the Caucus were asked about “serious concern the president’s executive actions are creating new loopholes for illegal immigrants to vote.”
“Are those legitimate concerns?” one reporter asked.
“The last thing on their mind is fraud and vote. They understand that they are not being made citizens of this country through this process, so I think these are just red flags that people who are against immigrant communities are using to scare America,” said Sanchez.
Gutierrez joined Sanchez in answering by saying, “These are all lies perpetrated by a community of people who do not believe in immigration reform. They never saw an immigrant they liked.”