Texas Senate nominee and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico said that the Biden administration allowed "chaos" at the border after being convinced that border security was "racist."
While appearing on a live recording of "The Bulwark" podcast Wednesday, Talarico criticized the Biden administration for refusing to acknowledge issues at the border until its final year in office, accusing it of being influenced by outside groups.
"In recent years, there have been a series of advocacy groups that claim to represent the interests of different communities like here in Texas, but actually have no real connection to the actual people on the ground," Talarico said. "And those groups convinced the administration that it was racist to support border security. And nothing could be further from the truth."
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"It was my colleagues in the state House who served border communities in South Texas, in El Paso, who were constantly telling me about the chaos in their communities because of the Biden administration's policies," he continued. "And that is not compassionate. Chaos is not compassionate."
"And we, as Democrats, we're the party that's supposed to make the government work for people," Talarico added. "And this was a prime example of government not working for people."
He then shifted gears to attacking Republicans, accusing them of taking his comments on political issues like immigration out of context.
"I have said throughout the whole campaign that our southern border should be like our front porch," Talarico said. "There should be a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door, meaning you can welcome hardworking immigrants who want to contribute to this country and keep out people who mean to do us harm."
"Not mutually exclusive goals, but the Republicans don't want you to know that those two things are possible," he continued. "And so they post this clip, and they cut it right before I say ‘lock on the door.’ So it just sounds like I want open borders."
Former President Joe Biden's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Though Talarico has been pushing a more moderate position on immigration and border security, he previously posted information to help illegal immigrants evade law enforcement during President Donald Trump's first term.
"Undocumented Americans are folks who work in our businesses, learn in our schools and contribute to our communities — but lack citizenship documentation," Talarico said in a post to X in 2019.
"As a Texas legislator, they’re also my constituents," he added.
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