South Texas Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro and Henry Cuellar and Congressman-elect Bobby Pulido, joined reform-minded business leaders Tuesday to call on Congress to pass major immigration reforms this year.
The group — which also includes U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, and U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen — said last week’s blue tsunami shows voters rejected the White House’s harsh immigration crackdown and want reforms including work permits and pathways for long-term, law-abiding immigrants to remain legally in the U.S.
“Last week, the United States of America rebuked Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign,” Castro, who represents San Antonio, said during a Capitol Hill press conference. “The mass deportation campaign has been killing people, killing communities and killing business in our country, especially in South Texas. When your policy is a policy of racial profiling, all of South Texas becomes a target.”
Members of the South Texas Builders Association said at the press conference that mass deportations have targeted potential workers, driving up prices, creating economic uncertainty and spreading fear in communities.
“Last week Americans rejected mass deportation because it wrecks businesses, wrecks families and surges prices,” said Rebecca Shi, CEO of American Business Immigration Coalition Action, a group of 2,200 CEOs calling for bipartisan immigration reform.
Pulido, a popular Tejano singer who won election to represent a majority-Latino South Texas district, said reforms are needed because the Trump crackdown has mixed-status families across South Texas living in fear. He also called out for-profit prison companies that have benefited from the president’s mass-deportation agenda.
“What we’re seeing is cruelty meeting corruption,” said Pulido, whose district spans from McAllen to rural counties east of San Antonio.
Gallego pledged to put immigration reform ahead of partisanship, saying his colleagues are willing to work with President Donald Trump if it means protecting families from being separated and Dreamers from being deported to countries where they have no ties.
“We are renting that vote right now,” Gallego said. “Latinos are giving Democrats a chance to earn the Latino vote again. And some of that has to start with us pushing hard on immigration reform. That includes possibly cutting a deal with Donald Trump.”
