Texas has always been shaped by immigrants — the workers, entrepreneurs, and families who help power our farms, our hospitals, our tech companies, and our construction sites. I believe in an immigration system that reflects that reality: one that is secure, orderly, and fair, and that strengthens our economy instead of undermining it.

 

Our system is broken, and Republican policies are making it worse.

Right now, immigration courts are buried under millions of pending cases, with families waiting years for a resolution. Outdated visa and guest-worker rules don't match what Texas employers actually need, and needlessly restrictive rules push people toward dangerous, illegal crossings instead of legal pathways. Rather than fixing these problems, the current administration has pursued an approach that is chaotic, cruel, and often unconstitutional — detaining U.S. citizens by mistake, deporting legal residents with no criminal record, and using force that has injured and endangered innocent people. These abuses don't make us safer. They make our communities more fearful and our country less trusted around the world.

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They also hurt our economy. Mass deportation efforts threaten to eliminate millions of jobs nationwide, with construction, childcare, health care, and agriculture — industries Texas depends on — hit hardest. Immigrants, including those without documentation, contribute billions in taxes every year while remaining ineligible for most of the benefits those taxes fund. An immigration policy that drives out workers and shrinks our tax base is bad economics, not just bad policy.

 

Here's what I support instead:

• Real border security. No serious candidate supports open borders, and I don't either. Border security matters, and we should invest in smart infrastructure and technology while addressing the reasons people cross illegally in the first place — chiefly, a broken legal immigration and asylum process.

• Focused, lawful enforcement. Interior enforcement should target people who pose an actual safety risk, not sweep up long-time residents, taxpayers, and U.S. citizens in the process. Everyone in this country — citizen or not — is entitled to due process under our Constitution.

• An asylum system that follows the law. People fleeing genuine danger have a legal right to seek asylum here. We should meet our legal obligations, clear the backlog, and stop policies that shut the door on people with legitimate claims.

• Modernized guest-worker and visa programs. Texas employers need reliable, lawful ways to hire the workers they can't find domestically, with real protections against abuse for both immigrant and American workers.

• An earned path to legal status. For undocumented immigrants who have lived here for years, working hard and raising families, we need a realistic, earned pathway to legal status — not endless limbo.

• An end to for-profit detention. Immigration enforcement shouldn't be a profit center. We need transparency, oversight, and humane alternatives to incarceration.

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I'm encouraged that bipartisan efforts like the Dignity Act show that Republicans and Democrats can come together on real solutions that pair strong enforcement with earned legal status. That's the kind of practical, values-driven leadership I'll bring to this office — securing our border, respecting the rule of law, and building an immigration system that works for Texas families and our economy.