Rep.
Chip Roy of Texas spoke on Wednesday about the comments of a Democrat judge who suggested that it was racist to describe the situation at the border as an invasion. Fox News reports that the exchange between Roy and the Democrat judge occurred during a House Judiciary hearing.
During the beginning of the hearing, Democrat El Paso County Judge Richardo Samaniego denied that there was an open border in El Paso. He even said that immigrants seeking asylum largely present themselves to Border Patrol for processing.
The judge went on to say:
There is no invasion of migrants in our community. Nor are their hoards of undocumented immigrants committing crimes against citizens or causing havoc in our community.
and
Claiming this continues a false, racist narrative against individuals to perpetuate violence that the El Paso community is all too familiar with.
This last part refers to the 2019 mass shooting in which a gunman opened fire on people at an El Paso Wal-Mart. Authorities in the area stated that the gunman, Patrick Crusius, admitted that he was explicitly targeting Mexicans when he opened fire.
Roy later accused the judge of saying that anyone who wanted greater border security of being racist. Roy also noted that roughly half of the Border Patrol is Hispanic. He wondered if the judge believed that Border Patrol agents referring to the border situation as an invasion was racist. He also stated that many Border Patrol agents are requesting additional resources to deal with the situation, and he wondered if the judge found that to be racist.
All of this set the judge back, and he referred to the fact that Border agents have free speech rights just like anyone else. He stated:
If you asked a Border Patrol [agent] in El Paso, theyre looking for assistance, that we do not detain them because they dont have the space. They dont have the personnel.
Congressman Roy replied: I appreciate that but what I would just suggest to you is that that is not a racist statement to say that we think we should secure the border.
It was a tense exchange between the two that highlighted the fact that many people dont necessarily understand just how bad the border situation truly is.
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