The border crisis is proving the most contentious issue in the 2024 elections, especially in Arizona's Senate race between Kari Lake (R) and Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who visited Nogales Monday to demand funding. Ahead of the visit, the Lake campaign attacked Rep. Gallego's previous voting record on the border, accusing him of having "done more to make this crisis worse."
According to local news source ABC KGUN 9, Rep. Gallego and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes held a press conference in Nogales on Monday, where they were "calling on Congress to allocate more money to combat the flow of fentanyl, change how asylum claims are handled, and increase border security."
Kari Lake was not convinced of Gallego's sincerity, citing multiple instances where he seemingly advocated for open borders.
Does Texas have a constitutional right to defy Supreme Court on protecting its border?
For instance, Gallego tweeted in March 2018 that "Military families are on food stamps but @realDonaldTrump wants to use $25 billion for his stupid, useless border wall." In April of that year, he further accused the former President of wanting "to use our troops to advance his extreme anti-immigrant agenda, while wasting time, resources & money and depleting our military strength in areas of real danger. Congress must stop this misguided scheme."
Military families are on food stamps but @realDonaldTrump wants to use $25 billion for his stupid, useless border wall.
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) March 27, 2018
.@realDonaldTrump wants to use our troops to advance his extreme anti-immigrant agenda, while wasting time, resources & money and depleting our military strength in areas of real danger. Congress must stop this misguided scheme. pic.twitter.com/Go1Kc0boui
— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) April 3, 2018
The following January 2019, he said, "There is no "national emergency" coming from the border," and further called using the military to secure the border "a misuse of funds and manpower. Private contractors are cheaper and faster. Only reason he uses the military is that they are a better political prop."
There is no "national emergency" coming from the border. The only national emergency is to our Constitution coming from the White House. https://t.co/9l8vf4PnoR
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) January 5, 2019
3000 more troops to the border to put up concertina wire is a misuse of funds and manpower. Private contractors are cheaper and faster. Only reason he uses the military is that they are a better political prop. #sotu
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) February 6, 2019
Lake further picked apart Gallego's voting record, citing his cosponsoring of the Safeguarding Sanctuary Cities Act of 2017, which would prohibit federal funds from not going to cities declaring sanctuary status for illegal aliens.
Moreover, the Arizona Congressman also voted in favor of the Build Back Better Act in 2021, which Lake noted would grant amnesty to over 6.5 million illegal immigrants, making it "the largest mass-legalization program for undocumented immigrants in history."
Finally, Lake cited Rep. Gallego's support for ending Title 42 last February in a virtual town hall with the Indivisible Project, an organization Lake had previously attacked Gallego for receiving an endorsement "with honor."
In a statement, the Lake campaign said, "Ruben Gallego has been in Congress over a decade and has done nothing to secure our border. In fact, he’s done more to make this crisis worse. Arizonans will not be fooled: Ruben Gallego supported sanctuary cities, giving voting rights to illegal immigrants in local elections, called the border wall stupid, and called for the end of Title 42."
