Dem Rep. Castro on Reported 30% Jump in Border Arrests: You ‘Have Some Spikes at Times’ — TX Should Spend More

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) reacted to the reported 30% jump in border arrests in July by stating that “you do have some spikes at times. You have highs and lows.” And there should be more federal support for border communities and the numbers are lower since the end of Title 42. He also argued in another interview that Texas should spend more money on localities that have to deal with the influx of migrants.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “Title 42, the pandemic-era policy used for three years to expel migrants to Mexico or to their home countries in a quick manner, that ended in May. The number of arrests at the border dropped significantly in June, which the Biden administration trumpeted. But now, according to preliminary data obtained by The Washington Post, that number is spiking back up. It spiked back up again in July. What do you make of this all?”

Castro answered, “I think that we’re going to see what we’ve seen throughout history, which is, you do have some spikes at times. You have highs and lows. The question is, well, what do you do with that? I think one of the things in what we heard today from local officials in Eagle Pass and community members is that the administration and those in Congress do need to provide as much support to local communities like Eagle Pass, El Paso, Laredo, and others — McAllen — that are right on the border and are bearing the brunt of this influx. But, as you said, border crossings are way down since the end of Title 42. So, this invasion that Republicans talked about, this huge swath or swarm of migrants that was going to come, that never happened. It never materialized. And yet, they used that to create fear and use it as their number one bogeyman issue with the American people.”

In an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Castro argued [relevant remarks begin around 4:10] that “Texas should commit more resources, more money to cities like Eagle Pass and Del Rio and El Paso and Laredo and McAllen that are on the border and the local officials and the local communities that are actually trying to help process these asylum seekers and whose infrastructure [is] being tested when you have an influx of migration.”

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