Texas Representative at Southern Border, Border Proposals and Trump at Arlington Cemetery

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) — Nancy Cordes spoke with Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) on Face the Nation on Sunday about what he’s seen at the southern border since an executive order went into effect in early June.

“What I can tell you is that things are getting worse. And let me give you an example. So… in the New Mexico area, 100 illegal immigrants have died so far. Okay, every part of the border is different. In parts of my district, it takes you three days to hop through the desert to get to the border. In the New Mexico area, 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 out. So in many cases, the humanitarian crisis along the border is getting worse. The other part of it, also in El Paso, one of the safest countries in America, the FBI did an operation this week and they’ve busted dozens of these criminal gangs, these anti-gang task forces. So in many cases, Americans are less safe because of this, and immigrants are less safe because of this. I’m a proponent, this is how you solve it. If someone comes here illegally, they’re immediately deported. You also double legal immigration… if we want to win the space race, we need engineers from all over the world. If we want to grow our economy, 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.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas)

During the interview, Cordes and Gonzales said the latter did not support any of the bipartisan proposals, including the bill from Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), which he said “doesn’t stand a chance.”

When asked if he was writing his own bill, Gonzales said, “I am. Yes, 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, like everyone else. And it also has a border security component to it. So… you can do both. We can both be warm and welcoming and we can both secure the border.”

In addition, Cordes and Gonzales discussed former President Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week.

“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… Arlington is a very special place. 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 both President Trump and, you know, President Biden were there to highlight the fact of these Gold Star families. 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 election, but we need to get back to putting veterans first, putting our families first, and putting the American people above all else.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas)

Click here to see more of Cordes’ interview with Gonzales.