Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego said his new bill to help solve border and immigration issues has a better chance of passing than a bill former Senator Krysten Sinema worked to get through.
Gallego said Sinema's bill was a short-term solution to deal with a surge of migrant crossings. He said politics killed that bill because some people preferred to keep immigration a hot issue to motivate voters during the 2024 election.
Gallego said his bill is designed to better survive the current political climate because it's a realistic, common-sense investment in border security.
“We're going to allow the people that people, that a majority of Americans, a supermajority of Americans, think should be allowed to become US citizens, and we're also going to do what the majority of Americans believe should be done with a lot of people that are in this country illegally, which is, if you're not a criminal and you have no criminal record, and you go through a background check, you will have the opportunity To stay here and be protected from from deportation,” Gallego said.
Gallego said people abused the asylum process, knowing it could be years before they'd have a court date to consider their asylum request. He said many migrants simply want to work, so he favors a well-controlled work permit program.
Last month, the White House shared on their website that President Donald Trump has been delivering promises he made about immigration.
They said illegal border encounters are down by 95 percent. President Trump, they said, designated Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and other vicious gangs and cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
The White House also said more than 85 miles of new border barrier are already in various stages of being planned and also in construction. They said Trump started construction back up on the border wall as soon as he became president. Dozens of miles of new construction, they said, have already started.
——-
Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
