For Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, the border crisis hits close to home — which is why he’s will to break from his party with his newly released immigration plan.
Gallego, the son of Mexican and Colombian immigrants, wants to see the overhaul of the immigration system alongside tackling border security.
“We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform,” Gallego said. “We can and should do both.”
“Americans deserve the right to feel safe (and) know their border is secure, but for decades, Congress has tried and failed to take action because politics got in the way. It’s time to push forward and enact a plan that works,” he continued.
What’s Sen. Ruben Gallego’s immigration plan
According to the 22-page plan, his five-pillar framework includes:
- Investing in more border patrol agents and drug detection technology to secure the border.
- Reforming the asylum process. The existing system allows an asylum-seeker to remain in the country for years.
- Expanding legal pathways for immigration that not only grow the economy but also protect American workers. Increasing the annual green card quota is a part of this pillar.
- Providing “Dreamers” and other long-term undocumented residents a pathway to citizenship.
- And addressing the root causes of the migrant crisis, like drug cartels and authoritarian governments.
The White House criticized Gallego’s efforts, saying he’s working on a problem that has already been solved.
“We don’t need a new bill to secure our southern border, end the illegal abuse of parole, and get other countries to crack down on illegal migration into the United States. We just needed President Trump back in office,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News.
While President Joe Biden was in office, the southern border recorded an average of 155,000 crossings a month by undocumented migrants. Under President Donald Trump, the number was a little over 7,100 in March, 1,146 less than in February, as the Deseret News reported.
Is Ruben Gallego setting up a run for the White House?
Gallego, a progressive who was elected to the Senate in January after serving in the U.S. House since 2015, has differed with Democrats on border-related policy before. In January, he not only voted in favor of but also co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student killed by a migrant who was in the country illegally.
This bill, which is now law, requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take a migrant in the U.S. illegally into custody if charged with theft or other crimes.
Gallego’s controversial move thrust him into the national spotlight. Over the weekend, he traveled to Pennsylvania for a town hall.
There, the Arizona lawmaker pitched the Democrats’ return to becoming the “big tent” party, and touted the success he found in his state by reaching across the aisle.
“I represent a state that has 330,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats,” Gallego said, as CBS News reported. “You have to get a lot of votes, and that means we’re going to have alliances with people that we may not agree with 100% of the time, right?”
The Democratic senator told The Washington Post he is focused on his first term in the Senate and his growing family, as his wife is expected to give birth next month.
But he did not rule out running for president, and told the news outlet he has taken calls from influential Democrats.
Gallego is pitching himself as a Democrat who can appeal to a broader swath of American voters.
“People don’t vote for a party, right? It’s us that run as Democrats. We need to be the face of the party, and we need to be out there,” Gallego said at the town hall.