Democrat and former congressman Beto O'Rourke kicked off his presidential campaign in Texas last night. O’Rourke started things off in his home city, and the site of much media attention: El Paso. Then he traveled to two more cities in Texas: Houston and, finally, Austin.
Launching in his home city is nothing new; Bernie Sanders launched in Brooklyn, Kamala Harris in Oakland, and Cory Booker in Newark, just to name a few. But given how much immigration and, specifically, the border wall, are in the media, El Paso feels especially significant.
On Saturday evening, O’Rourke orchestrated his first rally literal blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border. O’Rourke called El Paso a “city of asylum seekers and immigrants.”
To the cheers of many, he vowed to support Dreamers. While he hasn’t been known to offer policy details, he did talk about comprehensive immigration reform, including: “If we are really serious about security, we have a golden opportunity — Republicans, independents and Democrats alike to work on comprehensive immigration reform to rewrite this country’s immigration laws in our own image with our own values, and in the best traditions of the United States of America.”
Notably, however, he has expressed mixed sentiments on whether or not to abolish ICE. This is a different take than some Democrats otherwise aligned with him, who are calling to end ICE entirely.
In terms of other policy, O’Rourke doubled down on his long-standing position that climate change is a top priority. He also touched on paid family leave, unions, legalizing marijuana (including expunging arrests for marijuana possession), and ending cash bail. To an extremely excited crowd, O’Rourke said, “El Paso, to me, represents America at its very best.”
He continued:
“For more than 100 years, this community has welcomed generations of immigrants from across the Rio Grande … trying to escape brutality, violence and crushing poverty to find a better life in this country for themselves and their kids.”
Immigrants came, he added, “because they were called to contribute to our shared success and to this country’s greatness — and they have.”
Remember that the border was just at the end of the street? Less than a mile from where O’Rourke spoke in El Paso is the bridge that goes across the Rio Grande to Ciudad Juarez. You’ll probably recognize the bridge because numerous migrant families are literally beneath it, constrained by chain-link fences put there by the U.S. government. The families and individuals there are waiting to be processed, as there’ s a reported overflow at almost all of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection centers. Disturbing puts it lightly.
O’Rourke visited the migrants held under this bridge on Friday, and said of them at his rally, “They are our fellow human beings, and deserve to be treated like our fellow human beings,” which is, at the bare minimum, a sentiment everyone should get behind.
According to a campaign official, roughly 6,000 people came to the El Paso rally alone. Probably not too surprising, given that he raised $6.1 million in donations in just one day, surpassing even the beloved Bernie Sanders.
Here is some footage from his El Paso rally: