With former President Donald Trump presumably asking House Republicans to “wait for a perfect immigration bill,” U.S. Representative Carlos Giménez (R-FL) was asked on Fox News if he was worried “about possible backlash from voters who think the GOP is willing to let the border crisis burn for nine months in case Trump is re-elected?”
Giménez didn’t address the potential GOP backlash, but the Congressman did claim that only a new president could end the crisis, essentially conceding that a 9-month burning border crisis is a certainty.
Giménez, who was born in Havana, Cuba, and immigrated as a 6-year-old with his family to the U.S. in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, said frankly: “Look, the only way we’re going to fix is the border is to have a new president. That’s the only way.”
With his answer, Giménez articulated the real endgame of Republican intransigence in the House when it comes to the border crisis, an endgame alleged even by top Republicans like Sen. James Lankford — that the “open border” is an election issue and House Republicans, in refusing to consider fixes to the problem that don’t match H.R.2, are acting on behalf of Trump’s campaign.
House Republican Carlos Giménez: The only way we’re going to fix the border is to have a new president… it’s a mistake for us in Congress to say we can help fix this. pic.twitter.com/Cqeqq8VKpo
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 4, 2024
The congressman added: “I’ve been saying all along, I think it’s a mistake for us to say in Congress ‘hey, we can help fix this. No, it’s the president that has to fix it.” Gimenez claims it’s the executive orders that have to change.
Note: While mayor of Miami-Dade County (2011-2020), Giménez supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. In 2020, when he announced he was running for Congress, Giménez said he had made a mistake endorsing Clinton and supported Trump in the 2020 election, who in turn supported Gimenez.