By Mike Garcia
Candidate, 25th Congressional District
National security begins on the border. A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation. Our southern border is in crisis and Rep. Katie Hill has betrayed us.
Make no mistake, the flood of humanity overwhelming our Border Patrol agents and facilities is a disaster by design. This disaster was designed and funded by international criminal organizations…the drug cartels. Every Border Patrol agent who is now tasked to the care and processing of women and children is an agent who is no longer on the front lines stopping drugs and bad guys.
While the humanity of seeing poor and impoverished people detained at the border tugs at all of our heartstrings, the reality is these foreign-born civilian men, women and children attempting to illegally cross our border are human camouflage designed to sow chaos and division among Americans and enable the cartels to flood our communities with drugs.
Is the drug cartel’s strategy working? Yes. America now has more citizens dying from drug overdoses than car accidents, according to an NBC news report. If we could stop the flow of narcotics at the border, we could save the lives of tens of thousands of American men, women and children every year.
As a former Navy fighter pilot who served this country for almost 20 years and as a first-generation American, I feel compelled to highlight how dangerous Rep. Hill’s behavior is to the Antelope Valley, Simi Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley.
Katie Hill pulled a bait-and-switch on the people of our district. As a candidate for Congress, Hill supported the idea of more border security. But once elected she is now on the other side of the argument, standing in solidarity with the open border members of the extreme left of the Democrat Party. Hill has firmly put party politics and her allegiances to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York City socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez above the interests and safety of her own constituents. Her actions as a freshman representative have done nothing to protect us and our children.
Hill supports the American Dream and Promise act of 2019, a program that grants amnesty and educational benefits to 2.5 million illegal immigrants regardless of their criminal records, while taxpaying American citizens struggle to provide quality education for our own children. Under this act, convicted felons over the age of 18 would benefit just like younger children who fall under DACA. More importantly, the Dream and Promise Act does nothing to address border security.
The Dream and Promise Act is like trying to dry out the hardwood floors in your house while the busted pipe is still gushing massive amounts of water into your living room. This doesn’t make sense and the problems will only get worse.
Shockingly, in a video produced by her own campaign, Hill had the audacity to place the blame on United States foreign policy for the influx of immigrants and current crisis at the border.
That’s right, Rep. Hill said it’s all our fault that people are fleeing the corruption, crime and broken economies of their own homelands to come here.
A view such as Hill’s is not only appalling, it is also extreme and flat-out dangerous. And incorrect.
On June 27, when the time for action came to provide meaningful border security, Hill failed us.
She joined the extreme liberals in Congress to vote against a bipartisan measure to send $4.6 billion in emergency funds to the border. Fortunately, the bill passed without her support, 305-102 in the House and 84-8 in the Senate. However, she has shown us her true colors. And as Maya Angelou has cautioned us: When people show you who they really are, believe them.
Katie Hill has shown us that she has more concern for people attempting to illegally cross our border than she does for us and our own children. When President Trump announced on Feb. 15 that the border was in fact a national emergency, Katie Hill went on numerous national news stations stating the president was “acting like a toddler” with “pretend facts.” She accused the president of “political terrorism.” These comments are unbecoming of a representative elected by the people.
The president’s facts were solidly confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security and Hill’s own refusal to act on them only emboldens opportunities for real terrorists.
The humanitarian crisis at the border is absolutely tragic. But the reality is that we live in a world where over 2 billion people go to bed each night without clean, sustainable drinking water. Millions upon millions of impoverished people would love to come to America. We simply can’t take them all in and without a secure border we can’t stop them.
For hundreds of years, for those who wanted to become American citizens, there was a successful, legal path. It works. I am living proof of that. My father had a dream to come to America. He did, legally, and now my family is blessed to be living the American Dream to the fullest.
So what changed? Well, corrupt Democrats wanted new voters, businesses wanted cheaper labor and the drug cartels wanted bigger profits. So by exploiting both the impoverished foreign folks looking for a better life and the huge hearts of Americans, we are where we are today.
Congress needs to secure the border to protect legal U.S. citizens of all colors and origin, not offer hope to 7 billion humans who live outside of our borders. Only then can we begin to repair our broken immigration system.
It is not fair to give “front of line privileges” to people who come here illegally. It’s not fair to those currently waiting in line and it isn’t fair to Americans like my Dad and other citizens of this district.
As long as Katie Hill and the leftist extremists push liberal policies that promise sanctuary and free stuff, millions upon millions of people will continue to try to break into America, and the squalor of their experience will only get worse.
Katie Hill said one thing and then did another. Disappointing, but not surprising, and not too late to remedy.
Politicians will say anything to get elected. I’m not a politician. I’m a fighter pilot and rational business man. I swore an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States America. That oath has no expiration date. I fought for my country. I was ready to die for my country and the oath didn’t come off with the uniform.
As the next congressman for the 25th District, my actions will be to uphold my oath and continue to protect the national security of this country. I will create and support legislation and policies that give the men and women of Customs and Border Protection and ICE the tools and resources they need to secure our border. I will put the needs of our children before those of other countries. I will continue to serve this nation and I will never fail you.
Mike Garcia is a Republican candidate for the 25th Congressional District.
