Texas Democrat: US immigration policies, infrastructure ‘outdated’

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said in an interview ahead of President Biden’s planned trip to the southern border that immigration policies and infrastructure in the U.S. are “outdated.”

“What we are seeing … is an historic refugee crisis in our Western Hemisphere, and our infrastructure is outdated,” Escobar said on CBS News’s “Face The Nation.”

“Our processes are outdated, and the border has for too long been used as a political prop,” Escobar said. “We all have to come together and solve this once and for all.”

Escobar, who represents a border district in El Paso, is set to travel with the president on his trip to the border on Sunday. She has been a staunch opponent of the Trump-era Title 42 policy, which allows the U.S. to expel migrants who cross the border illegally citing pandemic concerns.

“The administration in the absence of any legislation from the Congress has very few tools available,” Escobar said. “I’m a staunch opponent of Title 42. In fact, I think Title 42 is the reason why those … encounter numbers are so high because people kept trying over and over and over again.”