P&I LÀ GÌ
Political observers say the move sầu is a gamble. All three other major Republican candidates for attorney general, including incumbent Ken Paxton, have sầu svào stances on border security.
by James Barragán Dec. đôi mươi, 202119 hours ago
First: George Phường. Bush speaks lớn National Border Patrol Council labor union representatives in El Paso. Last: Members of the Texas National Guard work 12- to lớn 13-hour shifts guarding the Texas border wall, construction crews and materials near Del Rio. Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre and Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune
Earlier this month, his campaign went on a “Secure the Border” tour through El Paso, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Larebởi and McAllen that focused on the need for a border wall and stricter immigration enforcement by federal authorities. This weekover, Bush stood next khổng lồ Abbott and other state lawmakers to tout the start of construction on a state-funded border wall on state land in Starr County.
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But Bush isn’t the only one in the crowded Republican primary race talking about the border. Political watchers say it’s a risk lớn pitch himself as the border candidate when Paxton has former President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a record of suing the Biden và Obama administrations on immigration policies.
“If you’re someone who really cares about border security, you’re probably pretty satisfied with Paxton’s commitment there, so I don’t know how much margin there is for hlặng to lớn gain,” said Matt Mackowiak, a GOP political consultant. “The lvà commissioner is playing catch-up.”
The other two Republicans in the race, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman & U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler, also support bolstering security at the border.
Guzman questioned Bush’s ability khổng lồ successfully tackle border issues, criticizing the lvà office’s response khổng lồ Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts & its struggles on the plan khổng lồ rethiết kế the Alamo.
“The border is more than a phokhổng lồ op or a Republican Primary talking point, it’s an issue that affects Texas for decades to lớn come and it will take an attorney with skill và experience lớn hold the Biden Administration accountable for fulfilling its responsibility & securing the border,” Guzman said in a statement, pitching similar proposals. “That is not George P. Bush.”
Gohmert declined to lớn comment for this story.
Republican officials throughout the state have blamed the Biden administration’s policies for an increase in the number of migrants coming across the border this year. Nearly every month this year, Border Patrol has had more than 100,000 apprehensions at the country’s southwest border, with a high of 213,000 in July.
Republicans say that increase from the numbers seen during the Trump administration, which had a high of 144,000 apprehensions in May 2019, shows why the border wall must be completed và policies lượt thích “remain in Mexiteo,” which requires asylum-seekers lớn wait outside of the U.S. while their claims are processed, must stay in place. The Biden administration recently restarted the program after a federal judge ordered it.
Bush said he’s the first candidate in the attorney general race who has proposed ideas lớn bolster how the state helps federal authorities giảm giá khuyến mãi with migrants. As attorney general, he said, he would free up state lawyers to lớn aid local officials prosecuting migrants arrested for state offenses, & would institute tougher criminal penalties for drug smugglers và human traffickers.
“The AG has got lớn lead on this, và that’s where Ken, unfortunately, has not stepped up to the plate,” he said, adding that Paxton is too busy dealing with his securities fraud indictment và an FBI investigation inlớn accusations of malfeasance.
George P.. Bush visits the border barrier that separates Sunland Park, New Mexiteo, và Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune
Political theater
To some, Bush’s border security strategy appears to be a ploy lớn score points with immigration hardliners who often swing the Republican primaries.“He’s got lớn win over some social conservatives if he has any chance of winning the nomination,” said Juan Carlos Huerta, a political scientist at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. “
His opponents have sầu also taken notice of his focus on the issue. Rochelle Garza, a Brownsville Democrat who is running for attorney general, blasted his border visit as political theater that ignored the region’s other serious problems.
“George Phường. Bush, along with the rest of the Texas GOPhường, use the Rio Grande Valley & border communities as a scapegoat for their failed leadership,” she said. “As an RGV native sầu, I’ve sầu seen what our communities need. We need Medicaid expansion, diversification of job opportunities, investment in infrastructure, including rural broadbvà, and affordable housing. We deserve sầu better than khổng lồ be treated as a pawn for the GOP’s divisive sầu politics.”
But Bush said he has always supported tough border security & immigration enforcement. Those who question his commitment to lớn the issue, he said, have not been paying attention.
He points to his endorsement by the National Border Patrol Council, the Border Patrol’s 18,000-member union, as proof that he has backed up his talk with action. Brandon Judd, the union’s president, said Bush has long pushed for the state to become more involved in helping federal immigration authorities deter migrant crossings.
“This has been an issue for him for an awful long time, not just during the election,” Judd said. “This is something that he’s wanted to lớn accomplish from day one. That’s the reason why we supported hyên ổn.”
George P. Bush visits the border barrier that separates Sunlvà Park, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexiteo. Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune
Border balancing act
Bush’s border tour also gives hyên ổn an opportunity khổng lồ visit with conservative Latino voters he’s cultivated for years in the Rio Grande Valley — ones who, like hlặng, want tougher border security.“George P. is counting on South Texas & the RGV to lớn be a major area where he can overperfrom in the March primary,” Mackowiak said. “It gives hlặng the opportunity lớn earn media, show them he’s in their community & he’s focused on issues that affect their lives.”
But it also forces hyên ổn into lớn a careful balancing act between playing up his border security credentials & the vision he’s pushed for years of a more diverse GOPhường.
Bush is the son of a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico. During his eight years as l& commissioner, he’s at times been outspoken about the Republican Party’s need khổng lồ reach out khổng lồ voters of color & has expressed compassion for immigrants.
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In the aftermath of the El Paso shooting in 2019, the suspected shooter told authorities he wanted khổng lồ stop the “Hispanic invasion” of Texas. Bush was the first GOP.. official to denounce the attaông xã as domestic terrorism by a white extremist.
But he’s also engaged in tough-on-immigration rhetoric that blames the Biden administration’s border policies for what he called “disorder, anarchy and chaos” at the border. In July, he tweeted a video of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chasing a oto full of migrants near the border and wrote, “This cấp độ of invasion is unsustainable.”
Critics drew parallels between Bush’s language and that of the El Paso shooter. He later walked baông chồng the bình luận, saying it “lacked eloquence” và was meant to refer to lớn the violence of drug smugglers and human traffickers.
Still, Bush is confident he can straddle the line between growing the Republican tent và securing the border.
“I think you can do both,” Bush said, adding that the Mexican trade that fuels much of Texas’ border economies depends on safe borders.
“I am the son of a legal immigrant,” he told reporters in Spanish. “If you want khổng lồ come here & be part of our great country, you have sầu khổng lồ respect the law.”
That response is in line with the establishment GOP’s thinking on immigration, which Bush’s family helped popularize at the turn of the century through its Điện thoại tư vấn for “compassionate conservatism.” Bush’s uncle, former Texas Gov. George W. Bush, pushed for comprehensive sầu immigration rekhung as president in 2007 that included a path lớn legalization for unauthorized immigrants.
But the Republican Party’s views on the issues have sầu shifted khổng lồ the right in the years since, Mackowiak said, and George P. Bush’s stance on immigration enforcement has always been tougher than that if his uncle or father, former Floridomain authority Gov. Jeb Bush.
“That’s not a question,” Mackowiak said. “But the question Republican voters are going lớn ask is, ‘Is he more conservative than the attorney general?’ I don’t think he’s saying that. He’s saying, ‘I’m going lớn give you a better option without the scandals and the legal troubles.’”
A U.S. Border Patrol airboat patrols the Rio Grande alongside shipping containers that size a makeshift border wall in Eagle Pass. Credit: Nichồng Wagner for The Texas Tribune
Is border enforcement working?
During his tour, Bush stopped at an unfenced part of the border in Larevì where officials say Border Patrol is understaffed và overwhelmed by frequent border crossings. In Del Rio, he visited the site of an encampment of more than 10,000 Haitians in June that brought the thành phố to a halt. Then he visited part of former President Donald Trump’s unfinished border wall.In Eagle Pass, he toured the so-called “Steel Curtain,” a makeshift barrier of shipping containers backed up by razor-wire fencing on the banks of the Rio Grande that is meant to deter migrant crossings. The barrier is on city property in between Eagle Pass’ two international bridges, which account for nearly half of the city’s yearly revenue.
“What does this vị for the mayor, for the city manager, for the City Council, if you suddenly have another caravan of đôi mươi,000 folks shut down the bridge and cthua trận down the economy?” Bush said, recounting the havoc Del Rio officials said the Haitian migrant camp wrought on the city’s economy.
George Phường. Bush listens to National Border Patrol Union Local 2455 members Chris Cabrera và Oscar Vela in Larevì chưng as they explain how the area is monitored. Credit: Danny Zaragoza for The Texas Tribune
As he visited with National Guard soldiers deployed to lớn the border by Abbott, law enforcement officials spotted a group of people on the Mexican side of the river scouting a potential crossing. They opted against it after noticing the soldiers tracking them through binoculars.
Bush says it’s proof that the deterrence tools are working.
But Scott Nicol, a McAllen activist who opposes a border wall, said the barriers are ineffective sầu because a majority of border crossers are asylum-seekers looking khổng lồ turn themselves in lớn federal authorities.
“They walk khổng lồ it & stay there to lớn get picked up by the Border Patrol,” Nicol said. “It doesn’t deter anybody toàn thân. It doesn’t stop anybody. And the people coming aren’t bad people anyway. It’s a fake issue.
“The humane thing khổng lồ do is to lớn say OK, we have asylum seekers coming, they need our assistance, let’s try & help them out,” he added.
Bush’s border tour garnered much truyền thông attention in the cities he visited, with the lvà commissioner easily gliding between English and Spanish at press conferences. But Bush said he wasn’t worried about convincing anyone about his border security credentials.
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“I"m not going to pander,” he said. “I"m just going to go with my agendomain authority, my focus, & people can join us & restore integrity to lớn this important position.”
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