On MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” Wednesday, Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold said any solution to deal with the massive number of migrant children who are flooding shelter facilities in his home state of Texas should be separate from a larger immigration bill.
Otherwise, the children would be “pawns” in the tussle between the two sides, he said.
“If the problem with these children is lumped into a comprehensive immigration reform package, the kids are being used as pawns by hard-core zealots that are pro-amnesty and pro-open border,” Farenthold told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd.
“I think these kids are a pawn in the bigger immigration debate,” the congressman later reiterated.
Farenthold especially emphasized his concern about the stress that Border Patrol agents are facing.
“These children are being used as a distraction,” he explained. “They flood the Border Patrol with the kids that they’ve got to take care of, and then, a few miles up the border, across comes the truck full of marijuana or other drugs.”