The Republican candidates running to be the next representative for U.S. District 15 expressed their views and priorities during a candidate forum on Thursday.
Six candidates running in the March Republican Primary participated in the forum which was hosted by Futuro RGV and during which they mostly focused on the issue of immigration.
The candidates that participated included Aizar Cavazos, Vangela Churchill, Monica De La Cruz, Ryan Krause, John C. Lerma, and Sara Canady.
First asked about what they saw as the district’s biggest asset and biggest concern, Cavazos, a retired Border Patrol agent, said the biggest asset is law enforcement while Churchill, a high school assistant principal, said the biggest asset is that the Rio Grande Valley was a great place to live because of the cost of living and the economy.
De La Cruz, a business owner who ran for District 15 against U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in 2020, said the biggest asset is the citrus and agricultural industry while Krause, president of a leadership development company in San Antonio, said the people’s values are the biggest asset.
Lerma said the people are the biggest asset while Canady, a justice of the peace from Wilson County, said the biggest asset is the agriculture.
Canady listed the needs of ranchers and farmers as the biggest concern while the other five candidates all listed immigration or border security as the biggest concern.
Though he did not attend the forum, Mauro Garza, a business owner, issued a statement that said the district’s biggest asset is its pride as a community and said the biggest concern is the economy.
The candidates were then asked about people who are undocumented but were brought to the country as children, also known as Dreamers.
All candidates agreed that such individuals were brought to the county through no fault of their own and supported a pathway to citizenship for them but with some caveats such as if “they have proven to be productive citizens of America,” as Churchill suggested or if they “are playing by the rules,” as De La Cruz said.
The other candidates agreed that they would favor a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers for those who don’t have a criminal record.
They were also asked about what they saw as the three biggest issues for the country as a whole.
Lerma listed inflation, needing to be energy independent, and the teaching of critical race theory as the biggest issues for him while Krause listed border security, inflation and the moral decline of the country.
De La Cruz said the biggest issues to her are border security and inflation while Churchill said border security, election integrity, and mental health issues among students are the three biggest issues to her.
Cavazos said border security, inflation, and threats to the first amendment are the biggest issues.
“A lot of people are getting blocked on Twitter and Facebook and that’s a very dangerous thing for the U.S.,” Cavazos said.
For Canady, the three biggest issues are also border security, energy independence and the teaching of moral values.
The candidates also talked health care, asked about COVID-19 pandemic and how they would ensure residents had access to health care.
Cavazos said he was pro-vaccine but said people should have a choice about whether or not to get it and said he was against mandates. He added that health care officials and providers needed to also focus on therapeutics when it came to treating COVID-19.
Churchill said Congress needed to pass bipartisan legislation for health care reform, adding that she opposed universal health care or a scenario in which health care was completely controlled by the government.
De La Cruz said she favored community clinics in rural areas but also said people complained to her that hospitals are “clogged” by “illegals” which she claimed leads to citizens unable to get adequate care. However, her claim was debunked by Dr. Ivan Melendez the Hidalgo County health authority.
“Less than one percent of the people in the hospital are illegal immigrants,” Melendez said Friday. “That’s completely erroneous.”
“The pandemic is not being caused by immigrants,” he added. “We have not seen an uptake in any of the illegal medical care that we have provided. At no time is it more than 3% of all total patients in the hospital.”
Krause said he thought the health care system would be better if the government would be hands-off and Canady agreed.
“I believe that our health care system would self-correct if the federal government would take a few steps back and not keep trying to tell everyone what it is that they need,” Canady said. She also repeated De La Cruz’s false claim that hospitals and clinics were “overrun” by “illegal immigrants.”
Lerma encouraged people to get vaccinated but also said it should be a personal choice. As for health care, in general, he said it needed to be more affordable.
As to how they would address one of their biggest concerns, border security, the candidates mostly agreed on that as well.
Churchill said she would provide Border Patrol with all the resources they need and continuing to build a border wall, reiterating that she opposes amnesty.
De La Cruz said she would address the issue by hiring more Border Patrol agents, have a mandatory E-verify system, end sanctuary cities, and close tax loopholes for people who are undocumented. The loophole she is likely referring to is the federal child tax credit that can be claimed by people with children under 17 years old who are dependents.
To qualify, the child must at least be a legal resident with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
Krause said they needed to have a set policy that Border Patrol agents could follow while Lerma said they needed to finish building the wall, end “catch-and-release,” and support Border Patrol.
Canady also said they need to finish building the border wall and enact sustainable policies.
Cavazos replied that they needed the border wall, the right personnel and the right technology.
The six candidates are running to replace Gonzalez, the current congressman for District 15, who is now running in the Democratic Primary for District 34. His move was prompted by redistricting that was approved the state legislature last year which made District 15 more favorable for Republicans.
The primary election for both Republicans and Democrats is on March 1.
Futuro RGV is holding their next candidate forum on Monday, featuring the Republican candidates running for State Board of Education District 2.
To read about the Democratic and Republican candidates for Texas Senate District 27, who also participated in a forum hosted by Futuro RGV, check out these stories:
