SAN ANTONIO – After being told about stories of immigrant children crying in classrooms, fearing they and their parents will be deported, San Antonio’s two newly re-elected congressmen on opposite sides of the aisle have different views.
“We are a nation of laws. The great thing is there are three branches of government,” Republican District 23 Rep. Will Hurd said.
Hurd said Congress makes laws that can be challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court, not the president.
“But if you want to come here, come here legally,” Hurd said. “Let’s make sure we have a process that does that, and let’s do it through Congress, not through executive order.”
Children who entered the U.S. illegally with their parents were granted temporary immunity from deportation by President Obama. Those are orders that could be rescinded by President-elect Donald Trump.
“I can only say that many of us are going to do our very best to make sure there is still a country that respects everyone," Democratic District 20 Rep. Joaquin Castro said.
Castro said if Congress moves toward mass deportations, a campaign promise early on by Trump, “Many of us will push back very hard against that.”
Castro said in the past, Americans were caught up along with undocumented immigrants being deported.
As for the border wall, Hurd said he was taken out of context during the campaign. He said his position hasn’t changed. Other than separating urban areas on both sides of the border, Hurd said a wall is “the most expensive, (least) effective way to do border security.”
Castro said most people in South Texas already are against finishing the border fence.