Republican Congressman Will Hurd of Texas, who represents hundreds of miles along the border with Mexico, has defiantly stepped forward to challenge President Trump calling any claims of a border crisis a “myth.”
Hurd is a former undercover CIA officer, who represents one of the largest congressional districts in America, Texas’ 23rd.
It’s a vast expanse of land roughly the size of Georgia that stretches from San Antonio to El Paso.
Hurd’s district includes 820 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, more than any other member of the House of Representatives.
“In some areas where there has been a proposal for a wall, in my district alone there’s the potential of ceding 1.1 million acres of land to Mexico,” said Hurd. “There’s a thing in Texas we care about called private property rights. I think in just Texas alone, it would impact almost 1,000 property holders.”
Hurd says for Trump to accomplish his wall he’d have to get the property rights with eminent domain, meaning the government would force land owners into a sale.
Trump’s border crisis is a “myth,” Hurd told Rolling Stone, and a wall made of cement or steel slats is a “third-century solution to a 21st-century problem.”
“What I always say is building a wall from sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security,” Hurd says.
He is one of the few Republicans to break ranks and vote with Democrats to approve funding to reopen the government.
“When you think of a crisis, that means people are afraid to leave their homes, right?, Hurd said. “El Paso is one of the safest cities in the United States of America. The same can be said about Del Rio, Presidio and Eagle Pass, places I represent. Why aren’t we also talking about streamlining this immigration process so that we get people here legally who are going to contribute to our economy?”
On Wednesday, he announced that he’d landed a coveted seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, bringing the perspective of someone who actually knows the border to Congress’ main government-funding committee.
Hurd’s views are more in line with former President Reagan who backed open borders and believed in amnesty for those who came to the country illegally.