Texas Republican Explains Why Illegal Border Crossings Are Temporarily Down

 Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) said during an interview over the weekend that illegal border crossings are temporarily down because Mexico has important elections soon, and politicians there want to convince voters that they are strong on national security measures.

Gonzales made the remarks during a Sunday CBS News interview with Margaret Brennan on “Face The Nation” when asked about the numbers, which are still very high under President Joe Biden compared to previous administrations.

“It doesn’t have to do with what Joe Biden has done. We’re on pace [this year] for 1.3 million people to come over illegally,” he said. “The numbers are down. The explanation is Mexico. A lot of people don’t realize Mexico has an election next month for its presidency, nine governorships and its congress. So, in many cases, those that are running on security platforms are keeping the numbers down.”

“The cartels are like – they are like companies,” he continued. “So they’re taking a loss in Q1 and Q2 in order to increase the volume in Q3 and Q4. So, if any – in many – in many ways, this is just Mexico carrying Biden a couple rounds. Now, if Joe Biden wants to secure this thing long term, I think he needs to stop looking at the Senate for a solution and look to the House.”

Gonzales said that Biden could fix the problem by backing H.R.2, the Republicans’ solution to Biden’s illegal immigration crisis, but that even just talking with the House would be impactful because he refuses to negotiate with Republicans.

 

“The president has not had any real conversations with anyone in the House,” he said. “The Senate, yes, they’ve sat down, they’ve had these conversations. But, in the House, they’ve given no oxygen to it. This is a different Congress than in years past. The House is where I believe you start, if you truly wanted to solve it.”

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