WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) CEO Rebecca Shi and Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Monica Villalobos to discuss bipartisan, practical immigration solutions.
In May, Senator Gallego introduced his five-pillar framework, “Securing the Border and Fueling Economic Prosperity,” endorsed by ABIC, to address the broken state of America’s border and immigration system.
Watch the full panel HERE.
Read excerpts of the conversation below:
On what inspired his immigration plan:
“Talking to a lot of Mexican-American immigrants, a lot of them were very disturbed with what they saw at the border. They wanted legal pathways to get into this country. They wanted to deal with the people that were in this country illegally but had largely kept their nose clean, had […] a work history. […] It was probably one of the reasons why we ended up getting the same Trump voters when we won, because we were very realistic about what was happening versus what Democrats wanted to say was happening. And we were very realistic about where Latinos were when it came to immigration. There was this general understanding among actually Liberal Democrats that Latinos were very liberal when it came to immigration and border security, which has never been the case, had never been true. […] They still believe that somehow the voters made a mistake about who they voted for, instead of the fact that we as elected officials, as politicians, made a mistake. We weren’t listening to the voters because it was uncomfortable to hear what they were saying. And this is why, even though Donald Trump had the more extreme position on the border, it was closer to where the normal, everyday voter was than where the Democratic position was.”
“I decided that really that in order for us to actually move the ball forward, both not just on the political side, but actually on immigration side, that I should choose a saner, more commonsense approach to immigration reform and border security and just reset the conversation around it, because it had been hijacked too much by the extremes.”
“My five-pillar [plan] is something that’s mostly based on something that’s commonsense and it’s focused on trying to pass something that works. The mistake that I think has been done in the past by a lot of groups is that it’s an all or nothing approach. ‘If we do not bring 11 million people out of the shadows and give them full rights of legal immigration as well as paths to citizenship, then we shouldn’t do anything.’ I think that’s been the biggest mistake.”
On Trump’s aggressive immigration raids:
“If it’s enforcement, you know, that includes racial profiling, aggressiveness – the heavy hand of the state, separating families, breaking into homes – it’s going to come back and backfire on them, on the Republicans and Trump in general.”
On the impact of Trump’s immigration policies on Arizona’s workforce:
“We need to compromise. When it comes to immigration reform, that means the same thing, and that means that we may not get everything we want, we may not be able to protect everyone, but we should be open to any idea that really brings some protection, some transparency, some predictability, to the immigrants themselves, their families, and to the business community.”
Senator Gallego also joined ABIC and Comité de 100 in May after the release of his immigration plan.
10/21/25