Democratic Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa ripped former President Joe Biden’s approach to his immigration policy in an interview this week, saying his policies on illegal immigration hurt Democrats in the 2024 election cycle.
“Biden’s problem is he didn’t lead on immigration,” Hinojosa said in an interview with Politico. “He was silent mostly. He hid from it, and that did hurt us last election cycle. It hurt all Democrats.”
Hinojosa is the Democratic nominee challenging three-term incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), who has been a longtime critic of Biden’s immigration policies and a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s immigration and border security platform.
Abbott famously protested the Biden administration’s immigration agenda by busing migrants from Texas border communities to Washington, D.C., and sanctuary cities, starting in early April 2022. His fierce crackdown on illegal immigration has been popular in red Texas.
Hinojosa has distanced herself from the Democratic Party on certain flashpoint issues, releasing an ad declaring her pronouns “Mom, Texan, and soon to be: Governor” and backing Trump’s idea for a $5,000 dividend check if it is decoupled from its conditions on the midterm results. This week, she added Biden’s immigration agenda to her list.
“We need Democrats, we need leaders who will do the hard work, roll up their sleeves to figure out solutions,” Hinojosa said in the interview.
She told the outlet that she supports body cameras and dash cameras for police and law enforcement, and added she has not “considered” the Democratic calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement because it is “not something that a governor has any say over.” Hinojosa did opine that ICE’s conduct and immigration enforcement under the Trump administration is “unacceptable” and “wrong,” adding there “should be a path to legality” for “hardworking, law-abiding” illegal immigrants who have been in the country for many years.
Abbott’s campaign slammed Hinojosa’s comments in an X post on Friday, highlighting how in 2021, Hinojosa said on social media that Biden’s border policies were “restoring order & humanity.”
“Gina is running from her record as the most far-left member of the Texas House,” the Abbott campaign wrote on X. “She praised Joe Biden and claimed he restored ‘order & humanity’ at the border. Plain and simple, she is lying to get elected.”
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Texas’s gubernatorial race is rated as “likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report. Trump won the state by 13.9 percentage points in 2024.
Polling in the race has largely shown Abbott leading by single digits, but a few have shown Hinojosa leading by three or four percentage points.