The Border and Immigration

The U.S./Mexico border is an important and meaningful place in my life and I have been crossing the border since I was a child. My father was a missionary in Mexico and we would often cross into Mexico from Texas to visit family and friends who lived on the other side, but Texas was always our point of entry.

The Texas border is a place I love. That’s why when I hear our governor say that the border is in crisis, it only reinforces in my mind that he hasn’t done his job. He doesn’t want to solve it because he is using the chaos at the border to gain political power. Greg Abbott has been governor since 2014. That’s eight years in office. The failure is his.

Management of the border is a federal responsibility. We all know that. The Constitution gave that power to the federal government. But, because of our strategic location, Texas has the privilege to be a partner with the federal governments of both Mexico and the United States.

As the first bicultural Governor, I would place a great deal of emphasis on building a respectful relationship with both the governments of Mexico and the U.S.

My goal is to be a respectful, reasonable, and pragmatic partner. I am convinced that chaos at the border does not constitute a crisis. Chaos is simply an invitation for order and we will work in an orderly fashion. When I talk to the people in charge of local governments at the border, they have told me that there are real needs that are not being met by our current administration and my goal is to partner with local governments to get them the resources that they truly need. I will not lead from a position of top-down but rather bottom-up.