LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (KGUN) — Representative Raúl Grijalva (D) Arizona District 7 says allowing "border crossers" to ask for asylum is required through U.S. and international law. However, he says politicians eager to demonize asylum seekers are getting in the way of providing resources to help solve the problem.
"Everybody pandering to to the issue of immigrants and migrants as a political issue going into 2024, as opposed to a crisis that needs some resolution right now," Rep. Grijalva shared.
He says Republicans in Congress are making it harder to channel assistance to the border because they are connecting border resources to assistance to Israel and Ukraine.
"And Congress is the only one that can reform the immigration law and provide a supplemental so that we have the resources not to make this crisis any worse, or to make the chaos any worse," Rep. Grijalva added.
He wants to see more resources applied to putting more immigration judges on the border so they can rule on asylum requests soon after people cross the border.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.