On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Here and Now,” Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) responded to a question on the humanitarian parole power of the president that is one issue in congressional immigration negotiations by stating that “we do have a problem in just allowing everyone in very easily.”
Co-host Robin Young said, [relevant exchange begins around 2:00] “Well, talk about the humanitarian parole that President Biden, like other presidents before him — this allows large numbers of migrants to come into the U.S. from countries like Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine. Again, it’s not like an asylum seeker, but it allows them to come in while they work through a process, which can be a very long process. Now, in the House, we know Republicans wanted to end this humanitarian parole. We understand in the current negotiation in the Senate, Republicans want a hard cap on numbers that a president can let in. Where do you stand on this, these are Ukrainians, Afghans?”
Gonzalez responded, “Okay, so, every country should be looked at differently, as we historically have. But, we do have a problem in just allowing everyone in very easily. The fact is, over 70% of migrants who come to our southern border never ever qualify for asylum, because most of them are economic [migrants].”
Later, he added that we do need migrants to fill jobs, but the process has to be an orderly one and that the credible fear standard for asylum is low.
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