4.6 • 7.9K Ratings
🗓️ 28 March 2021
⏱️ 4 minutes
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GOP Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn led a tour for themselves and others in their party at the border on Friday, but according to Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who took over Beto O’Rourke’s former 16th district in Texas, it’s all “political theater.” They want to “use the border as a prop, do a whole lot of complaining and finger pointing. But these are the same people who've been in the Senate for a number of years when their party had control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, [and] they did not solve this problem,” she tells The New Abnormal co-host Molly Jong-Fast and producer Jesse Cannon. That’s not to say that Biden has all the answers, he doesn’t. But she does feel like it’s finally time we get to the root of the immgration debate in our country. “[Constituents] don't want us to be the problem,” she adds. “They want us to solve problems.” But how? It’s two fold, she explains. First, we need to have real sit-down conversations and policies in place in regards to the countries in the Southern Hemisphere to hold them accountable (“These countries are turning a blind eye in many respects to the awful human trafficking, criminal organizations and networks that have existed for a long time.”) And, it’s going to take Americans getting real with themselves. We’ love the ideal of the immigrant more than the actual immigrants themselves. “Why are Americans so afraid of immigrants?” Escobar asks. “We need to instill some compassion into the hearts of Americans.” Plus! She and Molly discuss why Latino voters, in Texas specifically, can be pro-Republican and pro-ICE. It seems irrational but there’s a reason.
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0:00.0 | When you're about to hear as a teaser for the bonus episodes we do for Beast Inside, the Daily Beast Membership Program. |
0:05.8 | Today we have a very special guest with Congresswoman Veronica Eskabar who represents Texas 16th Congressional District. |
0:12.8 | She also sits on the committee on armed services as well as the Judiciary Committee. |
0:17.3 | To hear this along with all our past bonus episodes with guests like Corey Booker, Billy Eichner, and Q&As, |
0:23.3 | as well as getting full access to the Daily Beast's fearless journalism into new abnormal dot the Daily Beast dot com. |
0:30.4 | That's new abnormal dot the Daily Beast dot com. |
0:33.4 | I'm so excited. You represent Bettos, all district, right? |
0:38.6 | I do. Yes. |
0:40.0 | That's so cool. It feels like immigration has gone from something we haven't been talking about to |
0:46.0 | like the biggest topic that's happening right now. |
0:49.2 | Talk to me about what you you have a pretty bold plan. Can you explain it to us? |
0:54.5 | Absolutely. To hear some members of the media tell it we've never had immigration challenges at the |
1:00.8 | border until January 20th of this year. Right. It's been really frustrating to hear members of the media |
1:09.3 | characterize this as though it is a new challenge when it is not a new phenomenon. |
1:15.3 | I decided to write a piece for the New York Times and thankfully they've always given me |
1:23.5 | space dating back to 20, gosh it maybe 2011. |
1:28.8 | But in 2014 I wrote a piece called Why the Border Crisis is a Myth. |
1:34.7 | What has happened repeatedly from Washington has been this idea that if we could just get tough |
1:43.6 | enough on the border all of our immigration challenges will go away. |
1:49.6 | So the walls kept getting bigger and taller and thicker and uglier. |
1:56.0 | Investments in drones and personnel and then enter Donald Trump and it was cruelty and dehumanization. |
2:04.9 | And what we now know after four years of some of the most draconian immigration policies is |
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