'We can’t allow not that bad to be the normal': Censured TX Rep. slams McCarthy for 'demonizing' migrants

14 May 2023

United States Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) blasted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during an appearance on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday over the speaker's demonization of migrants at the U.S. border, Rolling Stone reports.

Per Rolling Stone, the GOP lawmaker "recently visited the border alongside McCarthy where he captured videos depicting the crowded and inhumane conditions in immigration facilities."

Gonzales told CBS host Margaret Brennan, "This is what I’m hearing on the ground — from mayors, from Border Patrol agents, from embedded media — everyone is saying it's not that bad. So on Friday I went to El Paso, I visited the central processing center. You're seeing on these videos, this is what ‘not that bad’ looks like. In the El Paso sector there are over 6,000 people in custody. This particular facility is meant to house 1,000 people; it’s housing 3,000."

He continued, "We can't allow 'not that bad' to be the normal. Just this week there was a migrant child that died in HHS custody.. I'm not looking to point fingers, but 'we can't allow 'not that bad' to be the normal.'"

The congressman added, "You've got… Kevin McCarthy on one side that is demonizing those that come over illegally," Gonzales said. But he criticized Democrats as well, saying, "You've got Chuck Schumer on the other side in the Senate that makes it a morally good thing to help people that are coming over illegally. Who gets hurt in this is people that have legal claims."

Rolling Stonereports:

The attempted 'demonization' of undocumented immigrants that Gonzales called out is common in the GOP and has only heightened xenophobic sentiment in the country as the party attempts to link immigration with violent crime, which makes Gonzales a rare standout.

In March, the Republican lawmaker was censured by his GOP colleagues, according to The Texas Tribune, over "his rejection of a border security proposal by his fellow Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, and his support of a bill defending same-sex marriage protections and a bipartisan gun law that passed in response to the Uvalde school shooting in his district."

Regarding his decision, Gonzales emphasized, "I would vote twice on it if I could."

Also in March, during an interview with CBS in March, Gonzales discussed an anti-immigration bill proposed by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), saying, "That bill in particular, it's dead. There's no way it's going to get on the floor. I'm gonna do everything in my power to prevent that because in my district, people are dying. And we need real solutions, not political rhetoric."

Watch the video below or at this link.

Amid partisan fighting, Rep. Tony Gonzales says "immigration reform gets further and further behi…youtu.be

Rolling Stone's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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