WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – South Texas Democrat Vicente Gonzalez has criticized both the Biden and Trump administrations on their handling of the border.
Under President Joe Biden, he says the “CBP One” app overloaded the southern border.
“It was ridiculous. A couple of clicks, you’d get an appointment. You’d show up. And you’d get interviewed by an asylum officer, if there was one,” Gonzalez said.
On President Donald Trump’s border policy, he says, “I have a problem with the administration nabbing people off the streets of America, putting them on airplanes and deporting them in violation of court orders.”
The Trump administration says its deportation of a man named Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to a prison in El Salvador, was an administrative error.
“I think he was very deportable,” Gonzlez said. “I’m not here defending Abrego Garcia. What I am here defending is rule of law, the U.S. Constitution.”
The Supreme Court ordered the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, but Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, says the president tried.
“He’s outside of the custody of the United States government and the President of El Salvador has said, basically, he’s not sending him back. I’m not sure what else the president can do,” Cornyn said.
However, Gonzalez says, “The United States government is under an obligation to assure bring him back, have his hearing, let him go through due process, and then send him home.”
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