Dem Rep. Gallego: Migrants Are Being Sent Elsewhere Because Surge ‘Is a Burden’ on Small Tax Bases

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) stated that towns along the border do have to send asylum seekers to other cities because dealing with the surge of migrants and taking care of migrants “is a burden” on the small tax bases of these towns.

Gallego said, “As a border state guy, there are two things: What’s happening right now is, if you go to these border towns, San Luis, for example, right on the border, small community, they’re trying to help out however they can. But they have a small tax base. So, when the asylum seekers come over, they’re trying to deal with that and everything that comes with it. So, when we’re sending people to other states, it is because it is a burden on these towns. And what the federal government should be doing right now, at least in the immediate future, something that Democrats and Republicans should do is we should be helping these towns deal with this. But we should also be helping Chicago to deal with it, if you’re going to help house them. But, overall there is a deal to be made.”

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