Texas governor candidate Beto O’Rourke called Republican incumbent Greg Abbott’s migrant busing program “cruel and unkind” during an appearance on “The Daily Show.”
O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee challenging Abbott in November’s election, weighed in on the governor’s controversial busing of migrants from Texas to other states to protest White House immigration policies. Other Democrats also have castigated Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for exploiting migrants as political props.
“The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah pointed out that O’Rourke appears out of step with the majority of Texans on topics like busing migrants.
“You’re against that, you’ve spoken out against it multiple times, but more than 50% of Texans go, ’Yeah, this is the right move because it sends a message to Washington,’” Noah said.
O’Rourke explained that Abbott’s “extremism” reflects “the fact that we have a badly broken democracy.”
He denounced Abbott’s migrant busing “stunts” as “so cruel and unkind,” and proposed policy solutions to address immigration, such as a Texas-based guest worker program.
“What if Texas led the way in rewriting our immigration laws to reflect our values, our interests and our needs, and we said, ‘Look, [if] you want to come to this country, you must follow our laws,’ but our laws will follow our values,” O’Rourke said.
“I want Texas to lead on that.”
Watch O’Rourke on “The Daily Show” below.