Republican Rep. Chip Roy, Texas, on Sunday, accused Democrats of using immigrants as “political pawns” while Americans suffer from the surge of border crossing at the southern border near El Paso, Texas.
“Democrats want to simply throw more money at the border and then process more human beings while they’re getting abused. They’re the ones using them as political pawns for their crass political purposes. They’re using the Hispanic community,” Roy said on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream.
On Saturday, the mayor of El Paso declared a state of emergency as migrants were overwhelming shelters and detainment facilities at the border. The influx comes days before Wednesday’s expiration of Title 42, a Trump administration public health welfare policy restricting migrants from entering the country.
A renewed surge at the border has been expected as Title 42 is lifted, making the border crisis and tension between the two parties even more entangled.
On Sunday, Roy said Democrats had shown “no interest in actually working to try and secure the border, citing a 2018 immigration bill introduced by former Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., that failed to pass the House when 41 Republicans voted against it.
Roy says the pathway to citizenship for migrants is “dead on arrival” until Democrats “actually talk about securing the border.” The Republicans will secure control of the House in the next Congress and could pivot towards that direction.
Roy prefaced securing the border “means turning people away and detaining them rather than processing and releasing them.”