Dem Rep. Gonzalez: We Need to Raise Asylum Standard at Border, Have ‘Expedited Removals’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) argued that Democrats do need to be stronger on the border, and the fear level for asylum claims at the border should be raised and there should be “expedited” hearings and removals for asylum claims.

Gonzalez said that while he thinks the actions of Gov. Greg Abbott (R) haven’t worked, “We need ideas of processing migrants further away from the border. We need to raise the critical fear standard on the border. We need to have expedited hearings and expedited removals.”

He added, “We need to crack down on the southern border and Democrats need to do it. And I think there [are] a lot of places where we can create good policy that’s effective and it’s humane. We’re not going to rip children out of mother’s arms and seperate families the way President Trump did, but we need to have law and order on the border and we need to have an orderly process for people to migrate into this country. And I’ve been proposing an idea called the Safe Zone[s] Act, which develops zones in Guatemala and Panama and maybe Colombia for migrants to go and [be processed] at that juncture.”