Transcript: Rep. Tony Gonzales on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” September 1, 2024

Below is a transcript of an interview with Rep. Tony Gonzales, Republican of Texas, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on September 1, 2024.

NANCY CORDES: We’re joined now by Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas. Congressman, thank you for being with us here in Washington. You represent a border district. You heard what Camilo just reported, and let’s put some numbers on the screen so people really know what we’re talking about. Throughout the year, the number of migrant encounters along the southern border had hovered just under 200,000 a month. Then this executive order went into effect in early June, and those numbers dropped to 100,000 in July, they were cut in half. Are you ready to call this move a success?

REP. TONY GONZALES: Nancy, it’s great to be here. You know, I represent almost half of the southern border. I was literally on the border on Friday. What I can tell you is that things are getting worse. And let me give you an example. So in the- in the New Mexico region, there have been 100 illegal immigrants killed so far. Okay, every part of the border is different. In parts of my district, it takes you three days to hop across the desert to get to the border. In the New Mexico region, it takes you an hour. So how can 100 people die in an hour? The reason is that these criminal organizations are holding these migrants in these holding facilities sometimes for over a month, and giving them one meal and one bottle of water a day. So when it’s time for them to finally make that trip, they’re giving them caffeine pills and trying to rush them over. So in many-many cases, the humanitarian crisis along the border is getting worse. The other part of it is also in El Paso, one of the safest countries in America. The FBI did an operation this week and they busted dozens of these criminal gangs, these anti-gang task forces. So in many cases, it makes Americans less safe and it makes immigrants less safe. I’ve been an advocate of, here’s how you solve it. If someone comes here illegally, they’re immediately deported. You also double legal immigration if you’re going to — if we’re going to win the space race, we need engineers from all over the world. If we’re going to grow our economy, we need — we need the hospitality industry, construction workers, and other areas. You double work visas, you vet people, you double that. We don’t see any of that.

CORDES: So, you’ve been pushing for an executive action from the administration for years. They’ve done it now, and you say you’re not happy about it, even though the numbers have dropped so much.

REP. GONZALES: Just ask the 100 families that died. This is part of the ugly part of it, so many people are dying, and those are the people who are dying. What about the people who are being attacked and other areas, it’s getting worse. So people look at the numbers and think, oh, it’s getting better. I look at it, who’s coming and what’s happening to these people. In many cases, it’s these criminal organizations, these Tren de Aragua, TDA, that are becoming more and more known, these Venezuelan gangs. They’re all over the country and they’re seeping into our society. We need to get ahead of this and we need real solutions. And the real solution is to hold these people accountable, deport people who aren’t there, double the legal work visas, people who are doing it the right way.

CORDES: Right, so there are bipartisan proposals to address these very complex problems that you describe. One of them was–was passed in the Senate, but former President Trump, as you know, thwarted that deal, do you wish he had allowed that?

REP. GONZALES: There were some positive things that came out of that, the border package that the Senate was working on, but there were also some very negative things. I would not have voted for that. The reason I would not have voted for it is because it allows 5,000 people to break the law before you enact it, the numbers should always be zero. We can both be firm on illegal immigration, and there was no talk about legal immigration. How about rewarding those who do it the right way? How about our allies in Afghanistan that we left behind? There are a number of things that could have been done. That was a failed — it was a failed bill. There are thousands of these bills, that was a failed bill before it even got started. I’m looking for serious partners.

CORDES: There’s a bipartisan bill in the House. Do you support that?

REP. GONZALES: What bill? I mean, the bill that I’m looking at through the lens is—

CORDES: I’m talking about Congressman Escobar’s bill.

REP. GONZALES: Oh, that has no chance of going anywhere. You know why? Because it’s 500 pages long. So that gives you anybody, any person, to say, I don’t like this bill. The other part of it is it talks about giving people who are here illegally a path to citizenship. That’s a- is death on arrival. You don’t even want to go there. You have to start securing the border and work visas, people who have been screened here to come. You want to talk about a path to citizenship. That’s code for you really don’t want to solve the problem.

CORDES: Okay, but you say you want to solve the problem, and yet you don’t like any of the bipartisan proposals. Are you writing your own proposal?

REP. GONZALES: I do. Yeah, I have a bill. It’s actually three pages long and it extends work visas from one year to three years and it allows people to streamline the process. Instead of mailing work visas, you do it online, just like everybody else. And there’s a border security component to it as well. So you can solve it — you can do both. We can both be warm and welcoming and we can both secure the border. All the proposals right now don’t stand a chance. And here’s another thing, when — when was — has Tim Walz ever been to the border? When was the last time he was to the border? So you have to see it. To hear these stories about the 100 migrants who died in New Mexico, you have to see it for yourself.

CORDES: You served as a 20-year veteran of the Navy. I want to get your perspective on what happened this week at Arlington National Cemetery. The Secretary of Defense felt the need to issue a statement saying that “an ANC employee,” an employee of Arlington National Cemetery, “who was trying to enforce the rules, was abruptly pushed aside” when the Trump campaign tried to bring a campaign photographer onto the grounds with the former president, and a top Trump adviser posted afterward. “I’m reposting this in hopes of triggering the hackers in the Secretary of Defense’s office.” Have you ever heard a campaign talk about the military in this way?

REP. GONZALES: You know, the funny thing about President Trump is that he gets all the attention, and whatever he does, sometimes it’s caused in this way or that way. I can tell you that veterans—

NANCY CORDES: That’s not spin, that’s his own campaign team.

REP. GONZALES: Well, I can tell you that veterans overwhelmingly support Trump, and the fact that he was there to highlight that the 13 Americans who were killed at Abbey Gate, I think that’s something that gets overlooked. Again, I served in Afghanistan, unlike Tim Walz, who did not serve in Afghanistan. I’ve been there. I retired as an E-9, unlike Tim Walz, who retired as an E-8. It’s important that we be there at the—

CORDES: Wait, are you saying – I’m just curious – when you compare your service to Tim Walz’s, are you saying he’s somehow less of a veteran?

REP. GONZALES: I’m saying he lied about the pay grade that he retired on. And I’m saying I’m not lying about the pay grade that I retired on. I’m also saying it’s important that we- Arlington is a very special place.

CORDES: That’s right.

REP. GONZALES: We need to make sure that it’s a special place, and we need to keep politics out of it. And I think it’s important that we do that. And so, you know, I wish- I wish that both President Trump and, you know, President Biden were there to emphasize the fact that these Gold Star families are here. This is what we need to get back to. There’s so much finger-pointing. I get it. It’s almost the end of the- of the election, but we need to put veterans first again, put our families first, and put the American people first.

CORDES: Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

REP. GONZALES: Thank you, Nancy.

CORDES: I appreciate it, and we’ll be right back. Stay with us.