Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D) and former Rep. Mayra Flores (R) faced each other in a debate as they vie to win the seat in Texas' 34th Congressional District. As the tense engagement progressed, immigration came into the spotlight, with Flores saying that she would not be opposed to requiring South Texans to carry passports to prove their citizenship.
The one-hour debate was hosted by CBS4 and NBC23 less than three weeks until Election Day. The race for the District, located in the Rio Grande Valley, is considered one of the only competitive congressional House races in Texas and a top priority for both Democrats and Republicans.
Gonzalez, on his end, reiterated his support for creating "safe zones" in Central American countries where asylum seekers could process their applications without traveling to the U.S. border. He also asserted his support for permanently enforcing Biden's asylum policy that bars asylum seekers between ports of entry when the amount of arrivals exceeds a certain level.
Flores responded by accusing Democrats of using immigration as a political issue to court Hispanic voters and called for more support for the U.S. Border Patrol agents, as the Texas Tribune reports.
But the real eyebrow-raiser came as Flores discussed some policies regarding the issue.
Gonzalez said a legislation known as Secure the Border Act, would have required South Texans residents to present a passport at an interior border patrol checkpoint in Falfurria, a town nearly 80 miles north of McAllen.
"What's wrong with being able to have some type of ID?" Flores said after being pressed by moderators on the legislation. "There's nothing wrong with that."
The Democratic incumbent, on the other hand, focused on legislation introduced by House Republicans that would have made it mandatory for employers to verify the eligibility of workers in the U.S. He said he voted against the bill in part because he believed that the system used to verify workers was too faulty and that the punishment for employers not using it was too steep.
Meanwhile, on the economy, Flores blamed the Biden administration's foreign spending for the country's economic woes and advocated for a return to Trump-era policies. Gonzalez said he would target corporate price gouging to bring down costs for consumers.
The two candidates also sparred on reproductive rights, one of the top issues in races up and down the ballot. Both Reps. said they would not support a national abortion ban, but Gonzalez did point out that Flores co-sponsored H.R. 1011, also known as the Life at Conception Act. That failed bill defined a human being to include all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, or cloning with no exceptions for in vitro fertilization.
"It's a national abortion ban. You need to read your own bills," Gonzalez said.
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