Post-Roe v. Wade horror stories 'absolutely' changing minds in Texas, Rep. Allred says

So how would expanding work permits impact your state of Texas? Well, thank you for having me on on Jonathan. You know, listen, we’re a nation of immigrants. We’re also a nation of laws, and we need to make our laws work better. And one, I think, simple way to do that As for us to expand work permits, which is a simple bipartisan solution, that would be a win win for Texas because it would help keep families together. We’ll also bring critical more workers into our economy. And I’m always looking for creative ways to try and, you know, work across the aisle where we can to address our immigration system. I’d love to see us address this comprehensively. I’d love to see us actually address what’s happening at the border, you know, with the legislation that you were discussing. But unfortunately, we’ve not had the leadership in place to actually help us do that. When I’m in the Senate, we’ll have a leader in place who understands that we have to make, you know, some of these changes, but let’s do it consistent with our values. Let’s make sure that as Americans, as Texans, that we both have a secured border and immigration system that works for our economy. But let’s do it consistent with who we are Now, as I’ve mentioned in the intro and as lots of folks know, especially if they watch this show, Donald Trump is essentially the reason that the bipartisan border deal fell through. Republicans are even admitting that it was their own party’s fault. So do you see another chance to get something done on this issue? I really hope so. Because we need to, you know, listen, that deal was addressing one of the issues that we really have at the southern border, which is the asylum process. The asylum process is broken. We’re seeing, you know, folks coming in at about 90% of the folks who are trying to seek asylum are going to be rejected. But it’s going to take five, 6-7 years for that rejection actually occur. And So what this was an attempt to do was to speed up and to deal with that backlog to provide billions of dollars of resources, more immigration judges, more CBP personnel to help us address what we’re seeing at the southern border. And when I talked to our Border Patrol agents, it was something that they supported and that their union actually came out in support of because they knew it would actually help them do their job. But folks like Ted Cruz don’t want to actually solve a problem. They want to have something to run on in November and that’s what we can’t really have any more of in this country. Is Senator Cruz paying any penalty with voters for this? Well, I talked to folks all the time who asked me, you know, why can’t y’all just get something done? And I think it’s intimidate on on all of us to explain. Listen, there are folks who are trying to get things done. We have, you know, a bipartisan agreement that would help us address this, that we actually know what a comprehensive immigration reform would look like. In my op-ed, I’m working with, you know, a Republican businessman here in Texas to try and find a way forward. There are folks who are trying to get things done, but there are also folks like Ted Cruz who are standing in the way. And in our democracy, elections is how we solve that. If somebody won’t help you solve a crisis which we’ve had at the southern border, that elect someone who will. And so that’s what we have to talk about and I think make sure the Texans and Americans understand that our immigration system is broken. But it didn’t. It’s broken because there are folks who won’t provide the leadership to help us address it. Congressman, let me get you on one more issue. You’ve been a fierce advocate for reproductive rights. Tonight, Texas voter Amanda Zorowski who spoke out after being denied abortion care in Texas, introduced the vice president at an event in Pennsylvania. Are these the, the post row horror stories? Are they changing minds? Is in Texas. Absolutely. You know, and Amanda is so brave and you know, I’m proud to call her a friend. And I think that, you know, telling stories like this are so incredibly painful. And my wife and I have had two baby boys in Dallas in the last five years. And I hope, you know, everyone out there is a parent, you know, knows what they would feel like if they had to tell the story of a much wanted pregnancy that was not. They were not able to have the child that they were hoping for and to talk about, you know, the pain and the suffering that’s been caused by the policies that are in place here in Texas. And so, you know, these are, you know, real Texas stories, and they’re tragic stories. And we have to make sure that there are no more of them. And we can do that by codifying Roe V Wade. And that that’s what this election in many ways, is going to be about. To me, it’s about freedom and restoring freedom to Texas women and to women like Amanda, to Austin Denard, who’s a friend of mine who was my State of the Union guest, to Kate Cox, to so many other stories that we haven’t heard and that that are coming out every single day.