On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Jose Diaz-Balart Reports,” Texas State Rep. Eddie Morales Jr. (D) argued that if Texas did an asylum application form and charged the $2,000 that people pay to be smuggled into the U.S., it would make revenue and the state should say that “if you’re given the privilege as a migrant to stay in Texas because of your asylum request,” then you need to work in the state and pay into the system instead of freeloading off it.
Morales stated, “I’ve sent a letter to the governor asking that we take a more effective and affirmative position on this issue because we can really lead on the issue and show all the other states what we can do when we put — when we set aside our differences and we work towards bettering the life of every Texan and every American.”
Morales that he didn’t get a response to the letter, but “we did get to actually meet in person also with the sheriffs from various counties there around Eagle Pass and Maverick County and he agreed to add additional money so that we could get more law enforcement and have local control. Because nobody is going to understand the border better than the local sheriffs and their deputies. Unfortunately, about two or three days after that, the Uvalde massacre happened there in the school and we were left with addressing that issue, which obviously, should be at the foremost of everyone’s mind. But yeah, we’re still having to address this immigration issue. It’s not gotten any better.”
He continued, “But I think we need to think outside the box, Jose, and that’s what I’ve tried to explain to my colleagues also. We can’t keep throwing money at this and thinking it will go away. We need to be effective. We need to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s funds and we need to make sure that we have a goal in mind in addressing and effectively addressing the immigration migrant surge that we are seeing. If you think about it, in visiting with mayors and with elected officials in Mexico, they did an audit of these migrants that came into Piedras Negras, which is the sister city across Eagle Pass. About every one of these individuals had about $2,000 in their pockets because they know that’s how much it costs to pay to get smuggled into the U.S. What if we — if Texas led on that issue and we did an asylum application form and we charged the $2,000? At 1,600 crossings daily that we were experiencing recently, that would be $3.2 million daily that we would be receiving and over $1.2 billion that we would receive annually. Instead of wasting taxpayer funds, we would be making money, and also we could then implement if you’re given the privilege as a migrant to stay in Texas because of your asylum request, you need to be informed that you are going to work in the state of Texas. You need to pay into the system, not be a [moocher] off the system.”
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