Congress members debate issues of homeland security

Five congressmen gathered at Texas Tribune Festival Saturday afternoon to discuss their stances on issues of homeland security and the status of the southern border.

U.S. Representatives Henry Cuellar, John Ratcliffe, Joaquin Castro, Blake Farenthold and Beto O’Rourke used their platforms to discuss their opinions on sanctuary cities, areas where city law enforcement doesn’t actively monitor the citizenship of residents.

“I voted against sanctuary city policies,” Cuellar said. “When you have a sanctuary city we have folk who don’t follow federal law. If we start cherry picking things we like and don’t like we won’t have rule of law.”

However, Cuellar said he feels Americans should stop viewing the Mexican government as a threat and start viewing it as a partner.

“Whether you talk about sanctuary cities or border security, it is how we see our neighbors and that’s part of the problem,” Cuellar said. “(People) look at Mexico as a problem instead of saying Mexico can be part of the solution.”

Referring back to an incident that occurred this summer in which San Francisco woman Kate Steinle was murdered by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times, Ratcliffe said border security is an “obvious problem” in America.

“The border is far less secure today than it was when the president took office,” Ratcliffe said. “Unfortunately, the statistics show that one in five people coming into this country have aggravated assault felonies on their record.”

O’Rourke said Ratcliffe’s comments on the character of immigrants were a “more clever” way of restating what Donald Trump has said during his presidential campaign—that illegal immigrants are often rapists, drug dealers and murderers.

“It is clear that migrants are net contributors to our country and not the thugs that others would have you believe,” O’Rourke said. “The thing we need to be concerned about is not spending more to militarize our borders.”

Farenthold said the President Barack Obama’s decision to allow the naturalization of Cubans after one year of “good behavior” in the states was a display of overreach due to his bypass of congressional approval.

“It is not for the president to make the rules, that’s a dictators job,” Farenthold said. “The problem we have seen in my five years in congress is the president would rather go it alone then get our approval.”

Ratcliffe agreed the policy should have been cleared by congress before it was enforced.

“My point is the president made this decision with out consulting congress and now you’re asking congress members about it after the fact,” Ratcliffe said. “I’m one that wasn’t pleased with recent developments in respect to Cuba.”

Castro and O’Rourke displayed themselves as proponents of immigration reform throughout the duration of the discussion.

“I think if you look at it relatively, we have the capacity to take care of people who need our help,” O’Rourke said. “And bad actors with criminal records should be first in line to be deported.”

LINK: https://star.txstate.edu/2015/10/17/congress-members-debate-issues-of-homeland-security/