Tony Gonzales and Chip Roy clash over mass deportation plans

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Tony GonzalesR-San Antonio, R-San Antonio, warned that indiscriminate mass deportations would be unachievable under the new Trump administration and would harm the Republican Party.

“If the message is ‘We’re here to deport your Abuelita,’ that’s not going to work very well,” Gonzales told ABC News on Sunday. “There must be a way to hold these notorious criminals accountable.”

However, Gonzales’ attitude was met with reaction from the right wing of the party. US Representative Chip RoyOne of the hardliners leading policy on the House Freedom Caucus has suggested that all immigrants who enter the country illegally should be deported. Roy called too Closing the country to legal immigration Until undocumented immigrants are deported.

“Our starting place for deportation should be individuals who came here illegally or were released into the United States illegally, illegitimately by the Harris-Biden-Mayorkas regime,” Roy said Monday. he said. “They need to be removed. They need to be deported. That’s the starting point.”

“Congress will need to support Trump, and frankly I don’t want to hear excuses from my Republican colleagues,” Roy said. Fox Business interview on Monday.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to mass deport undocumented immigrants as soon as he enters the White House, potentially affecting more than 11 million people in the country and more than 1.7 million in Texas. Democrats and immigrant rights advocates condemned the agenda, saying it was inhumane and impossible to realistically implement.

Gonzales argued that the number of undocumented convicted felons already numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and deporting them would already be a significant logistical challenge.

Other Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, said the incoming Trump administration should focus on “the dangerous people we know are here.”

“Start there and see how it turns out.” Johnson said on CNN on Monday:.

The country’s undocumented population includes tax-paying residents who have been living in the country for years, as well as new arrivals who are waiting for their asylum claims to go through the country’s immigration court backlog. More than 1.7 million of them live in Texas. According to the Migration Policy InstituteIt’s the second highest number after California.

Trump has already begun moving forward with his mass deportation agenda. Stephen Miller, the architect of the previous Trump administration’s border and immigration policy, will return to the new Trump White House as top aide. Trump also named Tom Homan, the hard-line former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as his “border czar” last week. Homan has advocated deporting all undocumented immigrants and defended the most controversial aspects of the previous Trump administration’s border policy, including the separation of parents from their children.

“I have a message for the millions of illegal aliens that Joe Biden has released into our country in violation of federal law: You better start packing now,” Homan said during the Republican National Convention this summer.

The Trump transition team is also planning mass deportation mechanisms, including the expansion of detention facilities and executive actions by the Biden administration that reverse protections against prosecution of immigrants. CNN reported Monday.

Democrats and immigrant rights groups expressed dismay at the proposals. American Civil Liberties Union He filed a lawsuit on Monday. For more on the Trump team’s deportation plans. US Representative Veronica EscobarD-El Paso warned that legal U.S. residents and citizens could be involved in mass deportation plans.

“It’s going to be very important to have a plan for every family that is mixed status, undocumented, even legal permanent resident,” Escobar said. “You need to connect with attorneys and attorneys.”

Congress has failed for decades to pass substantive border or immigration policy, with successive presidential administrations filling gaps with executive orders. House Republicans last year passed a tough border security bill shaped by Texas Republicans. The Securing the Border Act would increase penalties for visa overstays, require immigrants to stay in Mexico while seeking asylum, and bar immigrants from seeking asylum outside ports of entry. The bill went nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Roy was a key architect of the legislation. Months ago, he introduced his own bill that would effectively close the border and detain asylum seekers. He and Gonzales were openly fighting over the bill, which Gonzales said would end asylum. Gonzales called Roy’s legislation un-American and un-Christian, labels that angered Roy.

Even though the Securing the Border Act was passed, Roy and Gonzales continued their frosty relationship during the election. Gonzales accuses He described Roy’s far-right wing of the party as “scumbags” and Klansmen who voted against foreign aid to U.S. allies. Shortly thereafter, Roy endorsed Gonzales’ primary opponent, Brandon Herrera, whom Gonzales defeated in the preliminary runoff round in May.