Former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro refused to call the situation at the southern border a “crisis,” but he still managed to blame President Trump for the chaos.
As previously reported, the number of immigrants crossing the southern border has skyrocketed, breaking longstanding records. In May alone, Border Patrol agents apprehended 144,278 migrants at the southern border. Border Patrol expects the rate of immigrant crossings to be sustained, as they apprehended more than 4,100 on June 4 alone.
President Donald Trump has been doing all he can to curb the number of crossings. He declared the situation a national emergency to fund construction of parts of the border wall and recently negotiated a deal to get Mexico to secure its southern border to stop the flow from Central America after threatening high tariffs on Mexican goods.
Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of immigrants are arriving at the border with Mexico, Castro still refused to call the situation a “crisis.” During his Friday interview on “Meet the Press,” Castro explained why he sees the situation at the southern border as a problem created by President Trump.
“This president has been a total disaster when it comes to the issue of immigration because he told us just a year ago that if we would be cruel enough, as Americans, to separate little children from their mothers, that that would deter more families from coming to the United States and instead, as you pointed out, the opposite is true. So, in every way, we’re worse off now than when he took office.” He said.
While Julián Castro may think the President is responsible for the situation at the southern border, ultimately, Congress has the authority to address the issue. Julián Castro also noted that he wants to see family separation end, more aid sent to Central America, and more judges and attorneys at the border to process asylum claims.
All of the actions Castro listed would require Congressional action, with the minor exception of family separation which President Trump could choose not to enforce, even though the courts ruled that children cannot be kept with parents for more than 20 days. An end to the family separation policy would still require legislation from Congress.
Julián Castro is one of 23 Democrats in the 2020 presidential primary. He is polling around 1 percent in most national polls.
