Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz in the midterm Senate race and is considering running for president in 2020, has had quite the take on President Trump's proposed border wall.
“That wall in itself is a racist reaction to a racist myth that does not reflect the reality of this country at all,” O'Rourke said.
Uh huh.
Well, Fox News anchor Bret Baier wanted to know something then, asking O'Rourke this question on Twitter Monday.
That’s one way to describe it - But to be clear - would the Congressman like to take all the existing border barriers in his state down? https://t.co/qSotUEH1l9
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) January 14, 2019
Locals in cities like San Diego and El Paso, which O'Rourke represents, have actually noted in recent days how effective the border barriers have been.
Federal data illustrates just how remarkable the turnaround in crime has been since the fence was built. According to FBI tables, property crimes in El Paso have plunged more than 37 percent to 12,357 from their pre-fence peak of 19,702 a year, while violent crimes have dropped more than 6 percent to 2,682 from a peak of 2,861 a year.
CNN may not want to hear it, but San Diego reporter Dan Plante shared that in his conversations with border patrol agents, he's learned that walls do work.
Still, Democratic leaders dismiss anything Trump has to say about expanding the border wall. One of Baier's colleagues at Fox, Ed Henry, posed a similar question to Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) last month when the Democrat criticized Trump's "stupid threat" over the border wall. If it's so stupid, Henry wondered, why doesn't he offer a few comments about the police officer who was slain in his home state by an illegal immigrant.
Congressman -- doing a story on reaction from lawmakers in California to the killing of police officer Ronil Singh -- have you sent any tweets or full statements on police officer killed in your home state? https://t.co/PQZAfdqbEp
— Ed Henry (@edhenry) December 28, 2018
Cpl. Singh was shot and killed by the illegal after stopping him for a DUI. The policeman was only 33 years old and leaves behind a wife and 5-month-old son.
When Trump visited a part of the border last week in McAllen, Texas, Cpl. Singh's brother Reggie joined him and encouraged him to do what he needs to to protect American citizens from illegal immigrant crime.
"Whatever it takes to minimize, put a stop to it, my family fully supports it," he said.