Face the Nation: Tony Gonzales

Interview

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I think -- yes, good morning, Margaret. Thank you for having me.

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I don't want to see a shutdown, but, in my experience, if you give Congress more time, they're just going to take that time.

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You know, I wouldn't bet on Kevin McCarthy, but I also wouldn't bet against him.

I'm in a district where I'm just trying to keep my head above water. You know, this border crisis is very real. It's -- it's -- Margaret, it's very similar to when a school shooting hits your town. And, sadly, too many Americans know what that's like, or a hurricane.

And this border crisis as -- is as if a Category 4 hurricane has hit. So I don't have the time to -- to pontificate on political futures for other -- other people. We're just trying to keep our head above water here in Texas.

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You know, that's the -- that's the ugly part of a shutdown is, you're going to have -- you're going to have real people get hurt.

But, right now, Border Patrol agents are showing up to operate in processing centers. They're not out in the field, so they're not really doing their jobs. And they haven't been doing their jobs.

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And many -- many agents have told me: You know what, Tony?

Right now -- I mean, I will give you an example. In El Paso, the facility, 200 Border Patrol agents are in that soft-sided facility taking care of migrants, meaning they're not out in the field protecting America from bad actors. So, in many cases, they might as well already be shut down.

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It's -- it's the failed Biden administration.

You know, when we talk about the border crisis, we know what the problem is. The problem is -- is Joe Biden's failed immigration policies. We see the images. We hear the stories, but we never hear solutions. Let's -- let's talk some solutions.

One, I think the House should immediately take up the Homeland appropriations bill. Republicans can't just be the party of rhetoric. We have to be the party of solutions. And there are some solutions in this bill. One of those is, I have been pushing very hard and many of my colleagues to end catch-and-release.

I have an amendment in that Homeland bill that ends catch-and-release. Another one is, once again, the Border Patrol agents, they're -- they're out of the game. The -- the folks that are doing the real work are the sheriffs and the deputies. And -- and there's a program called Stone -- Stonegarden, and there's a $10 million upgrade for that.

This helps with manpower and equipment to help fight the border crisis. But the -- the third piece, which I would argue is most important...

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... is repatriation flights.

And when I met with Secretary Mayorkas earlier this week, that's what I asked him for, repatriation flights, meaning, if somebody does not qualify for asylum, you don't bus them to New York, you don't send them to L.A., you don't let them go other places. You send them back to their country of origin.

If we do that, that is how the crisis ends short term. And then, long term, there needs to be some movement on immigration reform, and in Congress.

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In my eyes, that's going the wrong way.

Eight hundred -- 800 troops to the border solves nothing. They might as well be human cones if you don't allow them to interact with migrants. You need to send immigration judges to the border and get these cases heard in days and not years, and, if they do -- do not qualify, once again, send them back.

You know, the -- the granting work visas to -- to the Venezuelans, 500,000, by the way, it only makes immigration reform more difficult in Congress, because, essentially, what you've done is, you -- you've encouraged those that have come over illegally. And these people have come over illegally into our country, and you're giving them the access to work.

It undermines everything that we're doing in Congress to try to come together. The real solution is finding Venezuela, working with Venezuela and other countries to take back some of their people. I would love to see Secretary Blinken -- I'm going to meet with him next week.

I would love to see Secretary Blinken spend more time in the hemisphere solving these difficult issues with some of our foreign -- foreign allies and partners.

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You know, Margaret, there's -- there's a difference between fantasy and reality.

And I live in reality. My district is hit with the realities of this border crisis. So I'm not looking for a messaging bill that says all the right things and accomplishes nothing. It's once again why I sat down with Secretary Mayorkas this week and said...

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... what are some real, tangible things that we can accomplish today?

So, in my eyes, a continuing resolution that just has fake things doesn't get us any closer. What we need to do is draw a hard line in the sand and pass appropriation bills and move that over to the Senate and work with the Senate to get this ultimately signed by the president.

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