The immigration proposal President Donald Trump laid out Thursday doesn't fully address the crisis at the nation's border, Rep. Will Hurd, whose congressional district lies along Texas' longest stretch of border, said Friday.
"The devil's in the details," the Texas Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I think the proposal has 500 pages...what's important to note that what Mr. [Jared] Kushner and his team laid out is really only two planks of the immigration system."
The plan only discusses legal permanent residents who can ultimately become citizens, and border security, said Hurd, but there is nothing in it about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) or seasonal worker programs."
"That's going to be difficult to pass, even in Congress," said Hurd. "The far right is upset with it because it doesn't decrease net immigration and the far left, of course, is upset with it because it doesn't do these other things."
He said he does appreciate that the plan, and Kushner, tries to change how Republicans talk about immigration and how it is a positive thing for the country, but with unemployment numbers being low, workers are needed and "the best way to do that is by streamlining legal immigration."
The plan also does not address the humanitarian crisis at the border, said Hurd, who favors a Marshall-style plan for the border in which work would be done to improve conditions in the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
"What we need to be addressing is the root causes that is causing this illegal immigration and that's violence and lack of economic opportunities in those three countries of the northern triangle," he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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