TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The race for Congressional District 6 will have candidates from the Republicans and Democrats competing in an area with a history of swinging back and forth between relatively moderate candidates from both parties. But Republicans have a primary to resolve before that with Kathleen Winn challenging one-term incumbent Juan Ciscomani.
We had some remarkable video to show Congressman Juan Ciscomani the day he sat down for our candidate profile. It was two days after President Biden’s order to seal the border if asylum seekers exceeded 25 hundred a day.
Our reporter Adam Klepp went to the Sasabe area and found smugglers dropping people off at a gap in the fence — unconcerned about Klepp and his camera.
Ciscomani says, “We've seen many videos like this. So this isn't the first one. When you see whatever form of security that this administration claimed to be enforcing at the border, it's just not working.”
Ciscomani sees the border as three separate issues Washington tends to mash into one.
There are the immigrants who want to work and who could be a positive force if we had an effective guest worker program.
And billions of dollars worth of commerce and jobs as a result of Mexico being our top trade partner by far.
He says, “I was born in Mexico. So I went through the immigration process. I worked in the Arizona-Mexico commission leading that for the state where we focus on the trade and commerce and the tourism between Arizona and Mexico, which is the number one trading partner for Arizona.”
But there’s the shadow of crime from aggressive cartels smuggling people and dangerous drugs.
Ciscomani says as a member of the appropriations committee, he helped send the administration more money for border enforcement.
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There was a bipartisan border bill advocates called the greatest chance to make progress for many years, but it stalled. Donald Trump opposed it and it did not make the House floor for a vote.
Ciscomani says the bill had good and bad points he never got a chance to improve.
“I never received a call from President Trump on this bill. All I know is that it didn't make it out of the Senate, and I never got an opportunity to work on it.”
Ciscomani says he comes home to Arizona just about every weekend and understands the need to relieve the squeeze families feel from the cost of food, fuel and places to live.
Considering some of the world’s flash points, Ciscomani voted to send support to Ukraine to help hold back Russian aggression, and he voted to send aid to Taiwan to defend against China and preserve Taiwan as a critical source of semiconductors.
He supports giving Israel what it needs to be sure Hamas is never a threat again.
KGUN reporter Craig Smith asked: “Would you prefer some different tactics by Israel in terms of how they're handling Gaza?”
Ciscomani: “I'm not going to tell another country how to defend themselves. What we do know is that what Hamas did to Israel is the worst I've ever seen, the worst that they had ever experienced in this era and Israel has the right to go and annihilate Hamas in a world without Hamas is a better world.”
More from the primary race in Congressional District 6:
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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.
