Dem Arizona Senate Candidate Supported Amnesty, Flip-Flopped On Illegal Aliens Voting

Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego voted for a mass amnesty bill and initially voted against legislation to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in the District of Columbia before reversing course during his Senate run.

Gallego joined his fellow House Democrats in voting for the American Dream and Promise Act, which would grant amnesty to an estimated 2.3 million illegal aliens who qualified for the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals program or were granted temporary protected status.

In addition to voting for a mass illegal alien amnesty, Gallego also fought against an effort that would’ve prevented illegal immigrants and other non-citizens from voting. In February 2023, Gallego voted against House Joint Resolution 24, which sought to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in local elections in Washington, D.C. There were an estimated 49,000 noncitizens residing in Washington DC as of 2022, data from the Migration Policy Institute indicates.

The congressman flipped on the issue in May 2024 as he prepared to challenge Republican Kari Lake for Arizona’s open Senate seat. Immigration is bound to be a major issue in the border state, which has felt the effects of the border crisis under the Biden-Harris administration.

In a bid to appeal to moderate voters, Gallego attempted to reverse course on immigration, voting with Republicans in May when another House Joint Resolution was put forth to prevent illegal immigrants and non-citizens from voting in Washington, D.C., elections.

Gallego’s voting record on immigration earned him an F score from NumbersUSA, a think tank that advocates for immigration policy that safeguards Americans and their economic interests. Gallego’s congressional office did not respond to a media inquiry from The Daily Wire.

The candidate also has a history of downplaying the crisis of illegal immigration. Gallego called the border wall “stupid” and “useless” in 2018, and denied in 2019 that mass illegal immigration constituted a national emergency.

The Democrat’s race against Lake comes against a backdrop of a surge in illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration. Over 10 million people have crossed the border under the Biden-Harris administration, with an estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrant gotaways recorded since Biden was inaugurated in 2021. There were a total of 415,000 reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020 during the Trump administration.

The media have attempted to distance Harris from the administration’s record on the border, denying that she was the “border czar” despite Biden tasking her with “stemming the migration to our southern border” in early 2021.

Multiple polls have found that immigration is among the most important issues for voters as we near the November election.