O’Rourke talks immigration at UH ‘Hardball’ tour kickoff
Democrat calls Trump’s plans ‘ridiculous’ at show’s first stop
The deafening cheers of University of Houston students and their marching band as U.S. Senate hopeful Rep. Beto O’Rourke stepped on stage Tuesday quickly hushed for the first televised “Hardball” question of the night.
To kick off his “Hardball College Tour,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews looked to a week’s worth of news reports, including the latest headline that President Trump wants to ditch the birth right of children born to immigrant parents on U.S. soil.
Based on the timing of the report, the El Paso Democrat suggested it may have been an attempt to sway his heated-bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz — even as a majority of polls have placed the Republican incumbent ahead of O’Rourke.
“Interesting that (Trump) drops this proposal with a week to go until the Nov. 6 election,” O’Rourke told Matthews during the broadcast from Cullen Performance Hall.
“Interesting that he tries to stoke paranoia and fear about a group of migrants who are still hundreds of miles, weeks away from the border, even if they make it this far.”
He then slammed Trump’s earlier pitch to send droves of soldiers south to protect the border.
“This idea that we can send 5,000 U.S. service members to the border and somehow stop migrants, refugees, asylum seekers fleeing the most dangerous countries in the hemisphere … it’s ridiculous,” O’Rourke said.
He characterized Trump’s campaign promise to build a border wall in the same manner. The congressman warned that the policies would mean “we can be governed by our fear.”
“And then we are a very small people,” O’Rourke said.
It was important to theater production major Brittany Puente, 20, to see the three-term congressman at her school discussing immigration and repeating his answer in Spanish.
“Sometimes we feel as though our voice doesn’t matter and that we’re secondary to this whole process,” Puente said.
“Some people, especially older people, don’t think we know what we’re saying or that we have an opinion in this matter. But change starts with the younger generation.”
Before the broadcast, Camila Castro, 23, and her sister, Daniela, 27, both from Bogota, Colombia, snagged a seat in the front row hoping to ask the congressman about the treatment of immigrant parents, like their own. Both women lack the citizenship to vote.
“We don’t really have voice right now so we’re trying to convince everyone else to vote,” said Castro, who studied architecture and graduated in May from the university.