Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) faced criticism over comments defending open borders. She said part of her job is lecturing conservative areas of her district about the need for illegal immigration to provide cheap labor for farms and businesses.
While chambers of commerce support “immigration reform” for lower wages, polls show immigration is the top concern for many voters.
Hoyle dismissed border security concerns as “disinformation,” saying the border must stay open to accommodate the “workforce” needed.
“Every one of my farmers knows that the people that are doing backbreaking work in heat, in brutal weather, to put food on our table, they want immigration reform,” Hoyle said. “Our chambers of commerce, they want immigration reform.”
“Their answer is, ‘why don’t you just shut down the border?,’ and I point out how much we need to have movement through the border and how much we need the workforce,” she said. “This has to be done,” she added.
A Republican challenger accused Hoyle of failing Oregonians and marginalizing the border crisis, which fuels crime, drugs and homelessness.
Hoyle has a record of voting against border security bills.
“By saying, ‘we need this movement through the border,’ Congresswoman Val Hoyle fails Oregonians in CD4 by recklessly marginalizing the full-blown national security crisis at our southern border,” Republican Monique DeSpain said, noting that Hoyle is guilty of “choosing to ignore FBI Director Wray’s repeated plain statements that our nation is the most vulnerable to attack than it has ever been because of our open southern border.”
DeSpain added, “It is about our open border fueling Oregon’s highest-in-the-country fentanyl and meth use, addiction and death rate, rampant crime and cartel control, and record homelessness in the 4th District. I’m running for Congress because career politicians like Val Hoyle are derelict in addressing the crisis we face as a nation. Hoyle is making it worse, even rationalizing it, rather than solving it.”
The NRCC criticized Hoyle’s comments as “extreme” and “racist,” endangering families while allegations of past racial discrimination have already cost Oregon taxpayers millions.
Hoyle faced backlash as the NRCC seeks to turn her seat Republican in response to her pro-open borders stance.
“Val Hoyle’s extreme, racist comments represent her latest dereliction of duty fueling the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesperson Ben Petersen said. “Hoyle’s radical views and votes are handcuffing law enforcement and endangering Oregon families with violent criminal illegal immigrants and fentanyl traffickers.”
