Transcript
Varney & Co.:
Now I have with me, Javier Villalobos, who just became the first Republican elected mayor of McAllen, Texas. And he joins me now. Your honor, you are right on the border. 85% of the voters in your County are Hispanic. You are a Republican and you won. Can you explain that because not many Americans expect a Hispanic electorate to go for a Republican mayor? Explain it, sir.
Javier Villalobos Speaker 2:
Well, I, I think, well the difference is I think a lot of people know or just know that Hispanics generally are very conservative, for generation or historically they have been voting Democrat. However, this was a non-partisan election though. We had support from Republicans, Democrats, independents, libertarians, and we, of course, we set forth a conservative agenda about, taxation, and being pro-business. And of course always, always, trying to make sure about spending that’s something we kept on. We kept our message and I guess it resonated with our great city.
Varney & Co.:
Well, has the mayor of McAllen, do you want to finish the wall? Do you want to stop illegal entry? Do you want to stop the flow?
Javier Villalobos Speaker 2:
You know what? That is actually, that’s pretty much a federal issue. We have no authority. However, what we do know is that it is affecting us detrimentally. Here in McAllen, we have two international bridges. We have Hidalgo we have Anzalduas. Now what’s amazing is that we cannot, we’re losing so much revenue because we cannot allow people from Mexico to come to the United States through the bridges yet through coming, otherwise. And you know, we keep on asking, requesting almost demanding to our president Congress and the Senate look open up and take care of our borders. Take care of the immigration issue because we, as a municipality should not be burdened with some of the costs associated and currently we are.
Varney & Co.:
So what is the administration telling you in McAllen, Texas, you’re obviously suffering some of the downside from this flow. What’s the administration saying to you, presumably you’ve called them up and said, what’s going on here? What do they say?
Javier Villalobos Speaker 2:
Well, it’s pretty much, look, we have a through Border Trade Alliance we demanded, we will ask we’ve. I don’t know what else we can possibly do as a city. We can request. And we hope, we hope that action is taken. We at any given time, we have hundreds of emigrants under our bridge. They’re taken to McAllen and we have to, in a sense, protect them and protect our own residents. And we’re spending money. Fortunately, it’s all logistical and public safety. So fortunately, this time it’s not too much, but you know what? We shouldn’t be burdened with that. It’s not a municipal County state, it’s a federal issue. So, we’re asking our federal officials take care of business, help us here in our municipality and other municipalities around the border. We need your help. Do what you got to do,
Varney & Co.:
Your honor. Thank you very much for being with us this morning. You are a surprise winner. If I say that myself, uh, perhaps you are not surprised, but we are. And thanks for being here, sir. We appreciate it. Come again soon Sir.
Script from the interview between Varney & Co. and McAllen Mayor Elect Javier Villalobos. The program was aired June 8, 2021, by FoxBusiness.com and shared on youtube.com.
