Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told MSNBC Friday that he believes President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico has become a “racist symbol.”
"The wall itself, this 30-foot construction that many of the border guards say is not effective as a deterrent is not cost effective, is a 4th century strategy for a 20th century challenge, that has become a racist symbol," Merkley said.
Sen. Merkley was then asked if he agreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that the wall was “immoral.”
"I do agree that it has become a symbol of an approach, an attitude towards those fleeing persecution around the world and arriving on our border," he replied. "It is now a symbol of child separation, a system of child prisons across this country that in December had 15,000 children under the Trump organization. Family internment camps that the president has been seeking to expand and just a very callous attitude towards those who arrive, here in our country, a country where most all of us are immigrants."
Democrats have taken different positions on the idea of a wall or barriers along the border as negotiations to re-open the government continue.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) broke with Pelosi earlier this week, saying he thought “physical barriers are a part of the solution,” and that a wall “if it’s protecting people it’s moral, if it’s imprisoning people it may well be immoral but that’s not the issue.”
Two bills to re-open the government failed in the Senate Thursday. One was a GOP-backed compromise that would’ve provided temporary protection for some DACA recipients and given President Trump his desired $5 billion in border wall funding. The other bill was a proposal from Democrats that would’ve temporarily funded the government until February 8th and did not provide any additional funding for Trump’s wall.
The government shutdown reached its 35th day Friday.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member