Democratic Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar said Republicans are using the migrant surge at the southern border “to fuel xenophobia and racism.”
“We can do this as a country. We have to work together. I would call on the minority leader and my colleagues to tell the truth,” Escobar told MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell. “Only when we deal in truths can we really solve problems together.”
“They can either join us in being part of the solution or my fear is what they are going to continue to do is seek ways to divide our country, fuel xenophobia and racism and I want to warn them that their words and the fueling of that xenophobia, that racism, that hatred of the border, that fear of the border, there are consequences to that language and that rhetoric,” Escobar said. (RELATED: President Joe Biden’s Immigration Reforms Could Prompt A Surge Of Migrants At The Southern Border, Expert Says)
WATCH:
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy criticized President Joe Biden Monday on Fox News when he went to the southern border. McCarthy called the situation “worse than a crisis” while speaking to Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins.
Biden told reporters on Tuesday that he doesn’t anticipate going to the border yet. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that the number of people they’re apprehending at the southwest border is set to become a 20-year record, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
“It is so deeply frustrating to hear the minority leader’s comments. He comes into my community to use it as a prop. He knows full well we have been seeing this flow of humanity from Central America since 2014. This is not a new phenomenon,” Escobar said.
“It has gotten worse over the last four years. In fact, that’s why you saw former President Donald Trump using every medieval, cruel policy possible to try to prevent what was happening instead of addressing the root causes and instead of creating an orderly human system. President Trump, you know, for four years we saw a dismantling of the asylum system, we saw him withdraw funding that would help bring stability to the northern triangle,” Escobar said.
Escobar said Trump scrapped “programs and processes that kept children from making that treacherous journey and be able to apply for asylum in their home country.”
“The minority leader should not be surprised that what we’re living with now is the consequence of all of that,” Escobar said.
Escobar said Biden’s administration must fix “a completely broken system that was obliterated by the previous administration.” The Texas Democrat says the administration has to solve the increasing numbers of people escaping “hurricanes and because many of those children are ready to be with their parents and their families.”
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