TUCSON, Ariz — At a recent prayer breakfast for local law enforcement, I caught up with Representative Juan Ciscomani fresh off of a red-eye flight from Washington D.C. to ask him about the recent crackdown on illegal immigration.
"The immigration system is outdated and slow and bureaucratic and expensive. I know that from firsthand experience," Ciscomani said.
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The congressman was born in Mexico, raised in Tucson and has a backstory few others in the halls of Congress can fully understand. Within his District 6 and neighboring District 7 along the border, there's a lot of concern that the focus will fall, not just on the cartels and the lawbreakers but on those who've been allowed to cross our border and are seeking to set up legal status.
"So the comprehensive approach has failed and fallen short multiple times. Most people are used to looking at the border situation through one lens. Either the immigration lens or the trade lens or only the security lens. All those are important and we have to look at them all simultaneously," Ciscomani said.
I asked him if he felt confident that his colleagues in Congress would see things his way; that the issues of compassion, commerce and border protection could be voted on bill by bill.
"These things can be done separately. The mistakes that we've learned from the past is that it all tries to be part of one big bill and as you gain some people and lose others, you end up doing nothing at all," Ciscomani said.
'Nothing' is not an option if you look at the sheer number of would-be migrants and workers and asylum-seekers who arrive on our effective doorstep every day. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service that operates under the Department of Homeland Security, the agency processed more than 40,000 requests every day during fiscal year 2023. 2,300 were granted permanent residency and just under 10,000 Green Cards were issued. Again, that's every single day of the year. Now that the CBP One app hit a pause, can the government really keep up? The congressman told me the messaging from the President is clear.
"There's a way to get into the United States. Follow that as we improve it as well so that we can actually have a proper immigration system. As this is happening we need to make sure that those seeking asylum the proper way are given a proper vetting," Ciscomani said
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Dan Spindle co-anchors Good Morning Tucson on KGUN 9 and is an award-winning storyteller whose work has earned him honors from the Rocky Mountain Southwest Emmys, the Associated Press and the Utah Society of Professional Journalists for both anchoring and reporting. Dan is passionate about history and loves to explore the Grand Canyon State. Share your story ideas with Dan by emailing dan.spindle@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or X.
