News: Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) has secured a commitment from President Joe Biden to meet with the caucus after months of demanding a sit-down.
This promise for a meeting comes as Biden weighs executive actions on immigration that many in the CHC have warned against. The White House is desperate to stem the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and is expected to announce changes today to the asylum system.
Exactly when this Biden-CHC meeting will happen is still up in the air. But Barragán told us she spoke with Biden in person about it Monday before the White House Cinco de Mayo event.
“He’s going to set the meeting up,” Barragán said of Biden. “The president likes to engage on the issues and I think a lot of the time it’s about timing and everything going on in the world and how busy he is, but there was no hesitation.”
The commitment follows months of tension between the White House and the CHC. Hispanic lawmakers were shut out of the failed Senate bipartisan border talks.
CHC members have also complained about being in the dark on Biden’s potential immigration moves, privately grumbling that he has refused to meet with them.
The White House didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Hispanic Caucus has been closely monitoring potential administrative actions to tighten immigration laws. And several CHC and progressive lawmakers sent a letter to Biden Wednesday outlining executive actions they would support.
“We need to make sure we preserve the ability to seek asylum in the United States. There are vulnerable people who are fleeing terrible situations in dangerous countries,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) told us. “I’m anxious to see what they’re proposing. I want to make sure it protects the fundamental right to asylum.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), who has urged the administration to go further on border security, said Biden is moving in the right direction when it comes to curbing asylum claims.
“If too many people are rushing in or we have surges in any one area of the border and it overwhelms resources that small communities have, that’s the right thing to do,” Gonzalez told us. “We are taking measures that maybe should’ve been taken a long time ago.”
— Mica Soellner
