
Transcript: Rep. Tony Gonzales on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 8, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Rep. Tony Gonzales, Republican of Texas, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 8, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We are now joined by Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzalez. Good morning, and good to have you here.
REP. TONY GONZALES: Yeah, thank you for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are always focused on immigration because of your district, but when you're watching what happens out there in LA, and using federal authorities as they are being used here, are you comfortable with what the President is doing?
REP. GONZALES: Yeah, first, happy birthday to my mama, who's back in San Antonio. To your question, yes. I am comfortable with it. It's tragic to see what's happening in LA. I spent 20 years in the military. I fought in two wars. I fought to give people the freedom to protest whatever the hell they want to, but, what we're seeing in LA are not advocates. We're seeing anarchists, and the President of the United States should absolutely put down the mob as soon as possible. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you comfortable with active-duty Marines being put on high alert for possible deployment to quell a civil disturbance?
REP. GONZALES: If need be. But you know, you always want to escalate --
MARGARET BRENNAN: Against the will of the governor?
REP. GONZALES: -- you always want to escalate, to de-escalate. But it first starts where you have to- have to- have local law enforcement get engaged. But, if local law enforcement is removed, and then you don't have the state law enforcement, then who is going to take care of the people? I want to see safety. I want to see safety and security all places, to include LA. But once again, this is the tip of the iceberg. We're talking about – we're talking about, you know, 100,000 people that have been deployed – or that have been deported. The numbers are about to go way up.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We have reached out to the state. We have reached out to the Mayor. The LAPD, as I was reading there, the top federal prosecutor in that city said LAPD did respond. The sheriff in Paramount said they aren't there to do federal law enforcement, but they did respond when federal authorities were in peril and asked for help. But, bringing it to your district, you have a major city, you have San Antonio. You also have rural areas. Is the administration targeting blue cities with blue governors they don't like? Or are you seeing similar actions in Texas?
REP. GONZALES: I think what they're targeting is they're trying to deport people as fast as they possibly can. What's going to happen is they're going to- it's going to be across the country. And once again, this is the tip of the iceberg. Joe Biden took a hatchet--
MARGARET BRENNAN: -- What do you mean by that?
REP. GONZALES: Joe Biden took a hatchet to the – to the – to an already broken immigration system. Right now, there's over 400,000 asylum seekers that under the last administration had their cases closed without adjudication. They weren't given a yes. They weren't given a no. They just had their cases closed. So, one could argue that these 400,000 people are in this country illegally and should be deported immediately. One could also argue that these 400,000 people did not get proper, you know, opportunity to state their case, and they didn't – and they didn't have that ability. What I'm worried about is this thing's going to escalate. It's not going to be just LA it'll be cities all over the country, as we continue to deport people.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said back in November, the administration would fail if it began going after non-violent migrants. You said, "if the message is, we're here to deport your abuelita, this is not going to work well." You heard our reporting. People are getting arrested going to court appearances, trying to abide by the law. We have these cases of, for example, a 19-year-old high schooler on his way to volleyball team practice in Massachusetts, arrested because the student visa had expired. An Afghan soldier in Houston who used to guard American soldiers at bases with eight kids to his name, arrested even though he entered this country with legal status. Are these people the worst of the worst?
REP. GONZALES: They're not. But when this is what's going to happen is as- as these 400,000 asylum seekers that are in limbo, if you will, start to get deported- Maria, who's 23 years old, that was from Honduras, that was- was told to come to the United States for a better life, and has gotten married and has had children, as she gets ripped from that life and gets sent back to Honduras, it's going to be very painful for us. What I'd like for us to do is focus on the- the convicted criminal illegal aliens. Last year, I asked the administration--
MARGARET BRENNAN: -- But is that happening? Because right now it looks like they're trying to run up the numbers frankly.
REP. GONZALES: Last year the- I asked the administration what that number was. It was 662,000. Last month I asked- as of July of last year. Last month, I asked Secretary Noem, under- under oath, I asked her, has that number increased or has that number decreased. She- she responded that the number of convicted criminal illegal aliens has increased, so that means we have over 600,000. We should absolutely focus on that population, the worst of the worst, and make sure that those are the areas that get removed. Otherwise, it's going to take us down this route of constant civil conflict.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The vice president used what's happening as an opportunity to say that this massive bill the President wants Congress to pass should get passed quickly. It's got about $46 billion for the border wall, other money for Border Patrol. The Homeland Security chair in the Senate, Rand Paul, was on this program last Sunday. He said, this is too much money. It inflates the cost of the wall eightfold. Should the Senate claw back some of the money that members of the House just passed?
REP. GONZALES: Well, I don't know if- I don't know if Rand Paul has ever found a bill he's ever liked, and he's probably not wrong, because every bill has flaws to it. But there's $168 billion in this bill for border security. That's important, but it's also important that we have oversight to this funds. You can't just write a blank check to the administration and expect them to go out and accomplish these. These are very complicated, difficult tasks. This is where Congress has to come alongside and make sure that those funds are going to the right places, that, once again, that they were going after these convicted, over 600,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens, that everyone you know agrees that ,you know, you take those people out of your out of your community, everyone gets safe. That's the area we should focus on.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you voted for this bill, the last version of it that the Senate is now tweaking. You're also a fan of Elon Musk. You were on this program like, I think it was back in March, and you said he's like the Prime Minister of the United States. Sorry, December, I think. Musk said about this bill, this massive, outrageous, pork filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. You know it was wrong. Are you going to reconsider your vote after- vote after the Senate finishes its review?
REP. GONZALES: Well, one Elon has done more for humanity and is going to continue to do more. That's why I'm a fan of his. Two is he speaks without a filter. He's not wrong. You know, that bill had a lot of issues to it. But I don't get it-you know, as a member, I get to say yes or no. I get to make it as best as possible. We got to see what the Senate does. What I'm really concerned is, what is- you know, are they going to touch Medicaid, right? The president has said, don't touch Medicaid. We've come out very early on a lot of members on the House to make sure you don't gut programs that work. And how do you give money to the resources where you need it, like border security? So, the Senate's going to do its part. I got to wait to see the final product before I'm a yes or no, but I think we have a lot of work to do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you comfortable with what it does to Medicaid?
REP. GONZALES: Right now, I mean, from where it was, yeah. I'm okay with people having to work in order to- to get benefits. I don't want to see- what I don't want to see is I don't want to see seniors have, you know, in the most vulnerable of our population, have their- have their health care ripped away from them, and I think a lot of that has been clawed back.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will watch the developing news on this front. Thank you, Congressman.
REP. GONZALES: Thanks, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be right back.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


News24
27 minutes ago
- News24
‘The president wants a big show': Trump sends in Marines as night curfew imposed on Los Angeles
A night time curfew has been issued for Los Angeles to quell protests. People are protesting the arrest of migrants. US President Donald Trump sent in the National Guard and Marines. A night time curfew was in force in Los Angeles on Tuesday as local officials sought to get a handle on protests that Donald Trump claimed were an invasion by a 'foreign enemy'. Looting and vandalism has scarred the heart of America's second biggest city as largely peaceful protests over immigration arrests turned ugly after dark. 'I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for downtown Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting,' Mayor Karen Bass told reporters. About 2.5km 2 of the city's more-than-1 295km 2 area will be off-limits until 06:00 (13:00 GMT) for everyone apart from residents, journalists and emergency services, she added. One protester told AFP the arrest of migrants in a city with large foreign-born and Latino populations was the root of the unrest. 'I think that obviously they're doing it for safety,' she said of the curfew. 'But I don't think that part of the problem is the peaceful protests. It's whatever else is happening on the other side that is inciting violence.' Small-scale and largely peaceful protests - marred by eye-catching acts of violence - began Friday in Los Angeles as anger swelled over ramped up arrests by immigration authorities. At their largest, a few thousand people have taken to the streets, but smaller mobs have used the cover of darkness to set fires, daub graffiti and smash windows. Overnight Monday 23 businesses were looted, police said, adding that more than 500 people had been arrested over recent days. Protests have also sprung up in cities around the country, including New York, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco. Trump has ordered 4 000 National Guard to Los Angeles, along with 700 active-duty Marines, in what he has claimed is a necessary escalation to take back control - despite the insistence of local law enforcement that they could handle matters. A military spokesperson said the soldiers were expected to be on the streets some time on Wednesday. Their mission will be to guard federal facilities and to accompany 'federal officers in immigration enforcement operations in order to provide protection'. Demonstrators told AFP the soldiers 'should be respected' because they hadn't chosen to be in LA, but Lisa Orman blasted it as 'ridiculous'. 'I was here for the Dodger parade,' she said referring to the LA team's World Series victory. 'It was 100 times bigger. So the idea that the Marines here, it's a big show. The president wants a big show.' The Pentagon said the deployment would cost US taxpayers $134 million. Photographs issued by the Marine Corps showed men in combat fatigues using riot shields to practice crowd control techniques at the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. Donald Trump, without consulting with California's law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state's National Guard members to deploy on our streets. Illegally, and for no reason. This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation… — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 11, 2025 About 40km north, the sprawling city of Los Angeles spent the day much as it usually does: Tourists thronged Hollywood Boulevard, tens of thousands of children went to school and commuter traffic choked the streets. But at a military base in North Carolina, Trump was painting a much darker picture. 'What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty,' he told troops at Fort Bragg. 'This anarchy will not stand. We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.' California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has clashed with the president before, said Trump's shock militarisation of the city was the behaviour of 'a tyrant, not a president'. Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy. Gavin Newsom In a live-streamed address, Newsom called Trump a 'president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution, perpetuating a unified assault on American tradition'. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here.' In a filing to the US District Court in Northern California, Newsom asked for an injunction preventing the use of troops for policing. Trump's use of the military is an 'incredibly rare' move for a US president, Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and a former US Air Force lieutenant colonel, told AFP. US law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force - absent the declaration of an insurrection, which Trump again mused about on Tuesday. Trump 'is trying to use emergency declarations to justify bringing in first the National Guard and then mobilising Marines', said law professor Frank Bowman of the University of Missouri.


New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
She Relishes Being Trump's Nemesis. Now He Is Out for Revenge.
The New York attorney general was an hour into a Westchester County town hall, expounding on her view of her mission during President Trump's second term — on democracy and the need to defend it, on courage and the need to display it — when a middle-age man stood up and told her she was going to prison for mortgage fraud. The attorney general, Letitia James, did not visibly react. As members of her staff escorted the man from the room, she thanked him with a small smile, said the allegations were baseless and turned her attention to a less fired-up attendee who was taking the microphone. The episode in Westchester last month neatly encapsulated the role Ms. James has staked out in recent years as one of Mr. Trump's chief antagonists, and the risks of having done so. The audience member was referring to allegations that have become the subject of a criminal investigation by Mr. Trump's Justice Department, whose leaders have rewarded the president's allies and targeted his foes. Ms. James has been one of the president's nemeses since she brought a fraud lawsuit against him three years ago, leading to a half-billion-dollar penalty that Mr. Trump has appealed. And unlike many of his enemies, she has not fallen silent during his second term. Her office has filed 21 lawsuits against him, working with other Democratic attorneys general to take aim at everything from Elon Musk's slashing approach to the federal government to the administration's sudden freezing of federal funds for states. Many of the suits have successfully barred the White House from achieving its goals, at least in the short term. In May, for instance, a judge blocked Mr. Trump from moving forward with mass layoffs that would have gutted the U.S. Department of Education. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.


New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
Republicans Prep for an All-Out Race to Flip New Jersey, With Trump's Help
Democrats have held majority control of New Jersey's Legislature for 23 years. The state has had a Democratic governor since 2018. And Democrats enjoy an 800,000-voter registration advantage. So when Republicans talk about November's race for governor, they acknowledge that their sense of growing optimism can feel a bit unfamiliar. 'It's viewed, nationally, as not impossible,' said William Palatucci, one of New Jersey's two representatives on the Republican National Committee. 'And there's a lot of interest for that reason.' On Tuesday, Jack Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman, won the Republican nomination by a resounding 3-to-1 margin, further ratcheting up confidence among party leaders intent on making the most of an atmosphere that they believe offers the best shot for a win in years. He will run against Representative Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat who beat five opponents, decisively, after a bruising and expensive contest. 'It's the best opportunity, maybe, in a generation,' said Mike DuHaime, a political strategist who helped to run campaigns for former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who left office in 2018. Several factors are expected to boost Mr. Ciattarelli's odds. After competing for governor in 2017 and 2021, he has a sturdy level of name recognition and a deep understanding of the policy issues that are likeliest to motivate voters. He also has the world's biggest cheerleader — President Trump — in his corner and history on his side. Not since 1961 has either party managed to hold on to the governor's office for three consecutive terms, and Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, has had the job for two. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.