California Republican Congressman says no vote on GOP border bill reflects his district

First-year Congressman John Duarte, the Hughson nursery owner and farmer, pointed to the makeup of his 13th Congressional District to explain why he was one two Republicans who voted against the GOP’s border bill last Thursday.

“This is a district that has a 14% Democrat registration advantage. This is a Voting Rights Act district drawn to be majority Hispanic,” Duarte said in a back-and-forth discussion last Friday with Power 96.7 FM talk show host Trevor Carey.

“And, this is a district that is uniquely highly reliant upon agriculture. Is (my vote) unpopular with mainstream Republican Party politics? Perhaps it is, but I am absolutely voting my district here, and I believe my district will support this vote.”

Duarte, 56, has come under attack from Republicans for not supporting the Secure the Border Act of 2023, which would resume construction of the border wall and limits asylum eligibility, among other goals.

HR-2 passed on a 219-213 vote but will likely die in the Democratic-controlled Senate. President Biden has vowed to veto the bill.

The bill, which was strongly pushed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, would also mandate a national E-Verify program for employers to check on the work eligibility of workers, and provides grants to law enforcement for certain border security operations.

“The Secure the Border Act is the strongest border security bill to pass through Congress in more than 100 years,” McCarthy tweeted. He said the bill “ends catch and release” and provides Border Patrol agents with pay increases and bonuses.

Duarte, in his 15-minute radio appearance, said he “strongly supports the secure the border part” of the bill, including the border wall and asylum reform.

The E-Verify requirement and lack of a solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, he said, resulted in a no vote. The bill passed, 219-213 with no Democrats in support.

“The mandatory E-Verify in this bill would have caused a lot of companies to lose very, very important employees, and would have criminalized a lot of our employers here in the Valley who have been using E-Verify.”

The legislation, said Duarte, would push a lot of families “making huge contributions to the places they work far into the shadows.”

“I absolutely want to secure the border, but we’ve got to do it in a realistic way aht will put the Democrats on the spot by including a DACA fix and a guest worker program that will allow us to then use E-Verify to stop anyone coming over illegally,” said Duarte, who said his efforts to convince Republicans on a food worker- and ag-friendly E-verify solution failed.

David Giglio, a Madera sports memorabilia seller who ran in the 13th District last year but failed to make the November runoff, blasted Duarte in an e-mailed statement.

“John’s statement on why he voted against the bill is embarrassing at best, and reprehensible at worst,” said Giglio, a Republican.

“To imply that it’s more important for the border to remain open because it’s of benefit to himself and other rich landowners who want to continue exploiting these people for cheap labor is a position that is beneath the office he holds. Immigrants are people, not cattle.”

Duarte told Carey he supports deporting undocumented residents who are “not part of our workforce,” who have criminal records and “are not an important part of our local economy.”

“We need to get a legal presence for the people we need here that run our economy, support our economy, that work in our economy,” said Duarte. “We need legal immigration at all levels, not just college graduates and doctors, lawyers and scientists.

“We need people to come into this economy and not live in the shadows.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said he voted against the bill because of the E-verify requirement.

This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 6:49 PM.