Representative Veronica Escobar (D-TX) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports” that President Joe Biden should “absolutely” be at the U.S.-Mexico border as a surge of migrants is causing a crisis.
Díaz-Balart said, “Washington needs to deal with immigration and they haven’t since 1986, that was the last comprehensive immigration reform that passed in this country.”
He continued, “I just don’t see, and maybe I’m wrong, I don’t see the urgency. I see the urgency of the NGOs, I see the Red Cross, the plane that brought me here was filled with Red Cross volunteers, I see local officials here, I see National Guard, I just don’t see urgency by the federal government. Am I wrong. Where’s FEMA? Where are the organizations? Where are the people just knowing that these are men, women, and children who are asking for asylum, the legal right to ask for asylum, the legal right to ask for asylum. I don’t see it”
Escobar said, “I share your feeling of frustration and the need for more urgency and I want to see that starting with the White House. I would like to see more direct engagement. I will tell you Secretary Mayorkas has been amazing. FEMA has bent over backward to expedite funding to help local governments. It’s because of the efforts of Secretary Mayorkas that we have the American Red Cross coming in.”
Díaz-Balart said, “Should the president be here, do you think?”
Escobar replied, ‘I think absolutely the president should be here, and I think everyone should be here, but more importantly than the president actually being here, I want Congress to act. I would like the State Department to be even more robustly engaged on this western hemispheric issue because this is going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take legislation.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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