This week, Townhall reported how a California congressional candidate patched up a high-profile illegal border crossing point by herself with razor wire this week.
“We’re standing right now at the spot that’s been all over the news. A lot of people have come out here to film this hole in the wall. No one has yet to come and secure this hole in the fence. IF you want something done, sometimes you gotta do it yourself,” she said.
I secured the border myself.
— Kate Monroe, CEO (@KateMonroeCEO) February 21, 2024
I’m the only person in America who came to secure the border.
No one else in congress.
No president.
No border patrol.
Nobody in our country would do this.
So I had to do it myself.
I put my life on the line to serve our country once… pic.twitter.com/jZYooeEY4r
"So I decided, if no one is going to do something about it, I will," Monroe told Fox News in an interview. "I purchased 400 feet of razor wire, and along with members of my staff, hung the wire along the gaps ourselves."
According to a new Monmouth University poll, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, support the construction of a border wall separating the United States from Mexico. On the other hand, 46 percent of respondents said they oppose it.
This is up from previous years, including during the Trump administration (via Monmouth University):
During the Trump administration, support for this project registered no higher than 44% and stood as low as 35%. Support stood at 48% the first time Monmouth asked this question (September 2015) and 42% the last time this question was included in one of Monmouth’s national polls (April 2019). Compared to public opinion nine years ago, support for building a border wall has increased by 13 points among Republicans (from 73% to 86%) and 11 points among independents (from 47% to 58%), but it has declined by 14 points among Democrats (from 31% to 17%).
The majority of Americans, 61 percent, said that immigrants seeking political asylum should be required to stay in Mexico as their claims are processed. Thirty-five percent of respondents said that these illegal immigrants should be allowed to remain in the United States as their claims are processed.
The amount of Americans who believe asylum seekers should remain in Mexico has increased in recent years (via Monmouth University):
Five years ago, slightly more supported allowing asylum-seekers to wait in the U.S. (41%) while the number who wanted them to stay in Mexico (51%) was somewhat lower than it is now. Support for keeping asylum-seekers on the other side of the border as their claims are processed has increased among all partisan groups compared with 2019.
And, a larger percentage of Americans, 32 percent, now say that they think illegal immigrants are more likely than Americans to commit violent crimes like rape and murder. In 2019, this figure was 21 percent. In 2015, this figure was 17 percent (via Monmouth University):
The shift in opinion that illegal immigrants are more prone to violent crime has grown most dramatically among Republicans – from just 29% in 2015 to 45% in 2019 and 65% in 2024. By comparison, the changes in this view among other partisan groups has been much less significant – from 15% in 2015 to 26% in 2024 among independents and from 10% in 2015 to 12% now among Democrats.
In December, Townhall covered how an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua who was deported from the United States five times was sentenced to 19 years in prison for raping a woman in Ohio. Shortly after, an illegal immigrant in Colorado who was arrested multiple times, as well as deported, was arrested again after he allegedly killed a mother and her son in a car crash.
Earlier this month, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was deported from the United States five times allegedly killed a 10-year-old child in a hit-and-run car crash, which Townhall also covered.