Unable to hold a planned district-wide tour due to an injury, U.S. Rep.-elect Monica De La Cruz held a virtual town hall Tuesday during which she discussed what she’s been up to since her electoral victory in November and took a handful of questions.
De La Cruz, who will be the first Republican to represent Texas’ 15th congressional district, laid out immediate plans for her office and reiterated her priorities for her term in office, which is set to begin next month.
Following her swearing in on Jan. 3, De La Cruz said she will temporarily occupy the current office of U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen. His office is situated in the heart of McAllen’s historic district on West Hackberry Avenue, and De La Cruz will remain there until a permanent location is prepared.
Rather than seeking reelection to District 15, which was redrawn to lean in favor of Republicans, Gonzalez instead successfully ran in the safely Democratic District 34.
In the northern part of District 15, De La Cruz said she will have an office in Seguin, occupying a small space within the Guadalupe County offices before eventually moving into a federal building that the county is currently constructing.
When asked about her priorities, De La Cruz reiterated that border security was at the top of her list and expressed support for Title 42, a public health policy implemented at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to turn immigrants back to Mexico and prevent them from seeking asylum in the U.S.
The policy was set to be lifted on Wednesday, but the U.S. Supreme Court put a stop to those plans on Monday when Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay on a lower court order to lift Title 42.
“With the threat of Title 42 lifting in just a couple of days, we could have upwards of 10,000 illegal immigrants coming across our border,” De La Cruz said.
“Not only is this unsafe for immigrants — because immigrants will fill our capacity to hold them here in the southern region so that they’re released into the community — young mothers with children will be forced to stay on the street and sleep on the street,” she added. “This is a horrific, catastrophic humanitarian crisis of epic proportion.”
De La Cruz also listed inflation and health care access as top priorities.
“There are many counties in my district that don’t have a primary care physician, and I want to look at resources that we can make available for them,” she said.
Asked about what she would do to assist entrepreneurs and small businesses, De La Cruz said the number one thing would be to rein in inflation.
“Number two is we need people to get out, to work,” De La Cruz said. “There (are) a lot of job opportunities, but we just can’t seem to find employees to fill those opportunities.”
She said she’s already had conversations with officials at South Texas College about creating jobs and helping students obtain skills for the industries they want to go into.
“And, of course, we need to make sure that we lower taxes for our small business owners that will free up capital to help them reinvest, not only in their businesses, but in their employees,” De La Cruz said.
