Dem Rep. Torres: Sending People Back to Drug Cartels ‘Isn’t the Humane Answer’

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Jose Diaz-Balart Reports,” Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) said that “countries in Latin America…have declared war on their own citizens by allowing the drug cartels and the gangs to take control of their countries” and that sending people “back into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels isn’t the humane answer to dealing with our immigration policy.”

Host Jose Diaz-Balart asked, “The Supreme Court, as you know, more than a month ago, shut down the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy. Is there something that needs to be done to establish some concrete and comprehensive immigration policy for people so that they know how it is that they can request asylum or get in the line, that doesn’t exist, to legally immigrate to the United States?”

Torres responded, “That will take an act of Congress, and, unfortunately, Republicans have failed to meet us at the negotiating table. With a 50-50 deadlocked Senate, it has been impossible to bring about real immigration reform and to fully fund those positions, those judges that are needed in order to process these asylum seekers’ applications. But also, I would point to the countries where we are seeing the most migration coming out of. Setting aside Ukraine, that is in the midst of a war, we have countries in Latin America that have declared war on their own citizens by allowing the drug cartels and the gangs to take control of their countries and communities. So, I’m not surprised that we…continue to see so many asylum seekers. But Title 42 is not the answer. Sending them back into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels isn’t the humane answer to dealing with our immigration policy.”

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