Arizona’s Gallego gives mixed reviews to Trump’s border security policy rollout
Jan 21, 2025, 11:21 AM
PHOENIX – Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona is giving mixed reviews to President Donald Trump’s border security policy rollout.
While the Phoenix Democrat remains hopeful that immigration reform can be passed through a bipartisan effort, Trump jumped into action on his own by issuing multiple border-related executive orders shortly after his inauguration on Monday.
“Some of these executive orders, we’re just not going to stand by and pass without a fight,” Gallego told KTAR News 9.23 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Tuesday.
Gallego singled out his opposition to Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally or on a temporary visa.
“In my two years of campaigning, I never heard one person ask for that,” he said. “I don’t believe it actually adds to border security at all, and I think it actually diminishes our country in many ways.”
What does Sen. Ruben Gallego like about border-related executive orders?
On the other hand, Gallego said he supports designating cartels as terrorist organizations and using military resources against them.
“I’m not talking, like, sending the Navy Seals to go take down the Zetas or anything like that,” said Gallego, a Marine veteran.
Instead, he is in favor of using the military’s intelligence capabilities to investigate cartel activities.
“People forget, these cartels are very sophisticated,” he said. “They pay a lot of people very top money, top-notch money, to keep them out of trouble and keep them out of jail. And using the military and its capabilities to go after these guys is a very, very good idea.”
On the legislative front, Gallego voted with the Senate Republican majority on Monday to pass the immigration bill known as the Laken Riley Act, which he cosponsored.
He said his support for the bill is an example of what Arizona voters told him they wanted during his campaign last year.
“They said that they wanted to see real commonsense solutions; they want it done in bipartisan manner,” he said.