Ruben Gallego in August 2024. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Arizona’s first Latino U.S. senator, Ruben Gallego, says he’s willing to work with Donald Trump’s administration on border security, echoing the Democratic Party line of tentative cooperation that emerged after an election marked by Republican wins and voter concerns over immigration. Gallego was sworn in as a senator on Friday.
“We’re not going to automatically just knee-jerk reject anything that comes from the White House. We’re not going to run to the barricades when they use words like ‘mass deportation,’ because even now, to this day, they have not really qualified what their plans are,” Gallego said, during a Thursday news conference previewing his policy goals before his Friday swearing-in ceremony. “We’re going to wait and hear what their actual goals are, see if we can work together to really fulfill what Arizonans asked of me to do.”
Trump ran on the promise of overseeing a mass deportation campaign, making it a cornerstone of his campaign. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented people currently living in the country who could be at risk of removal. Trump has alternated between vowing to order the expulsion of those with criminal records or rejected asylum bids and promising to deport everyone.
Gallego pointed out that exact details about Trump’s plan have not yet been released, and said Arizona voters elected him to strengthen the state’s southern border. He added that he would be in favor of deporting “criminal aliens,” but said Arizonans don’t support plans like Trump’s notorious 2018 Zero Tolerance Policy that resulted in the separation of nearly 3,000 children from their parents and minors being placed in detention facilities alone.
“What Arizonans talked to me about is that they want more border security; they want more customs police officers; they want — where necessary — border walls,” Gallego said. “And, yeah, they want a certain type of illegal immigrant deported. What I didn’t hear is family separations, and I didn’t hear about jailing kids or anything of that nature.”
Concern over the U.S.-Mexico border colored voter priorities during the 2024 election. For the first time since 2019, voters ranked immigration at the top of the list of problems facing the country. That concern arose from record-high immigration rates in late 2023, and in Arizona it led to the easy passage of a ballot initiative aimed at empowering local police officers and state judges to arrest and deport migrants. A whopping 61% of Arizonans cast their ballots in favor of making it a state crime to cross the southern border into the Grand Canyon State.
In a bid to respond to that concern, Gallego sought and was granted a spot on the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He said he hopes to use his time on that committee to push for increased border security funding and to explore the possibility of immigration reform.
Gallego also celebrated his election as historic, and highlighted his mother’s identity as an immigrant from Colombia.
“When I’m sworn in, it’ll be for so much more than me,” he said. “It’ll be for my mom — an immigrant, a strong woman, a Latina who raised four kids on her own.”
Along with his appointment to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Gallego will also sit on the Banking; Energy and Natural Resources; and Veterans’ Affairs committees. The Chicago native said he chose those committees as a reflection of the needs of Arizonans, including access to affordable housing, a secure water supply, sufficient energy capabilities and resources for veterans.
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