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Dem Rep Claims This Is the 'Plain and Simple' Reason Republicans Want to Close Border

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  September 10, 2024 8:00 AM

Thanks to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies, every state is now a border state. American citizens are being killed in crimes that are 100 percent preventable; the number of individuals on the terror watch list who have been apprehended at a port of entry has skyrocketed, with experts warning it’s a ticking time bomb until the next major attack; small towns are being overrun; taxpayers are footing the massive bill for their housing, healthcare, and other costs; and more. This only scratches the surface on the many ways unchecked illegal immigration is harming America and her citizens. But if you ask New York Rep. Dan Goldman, there is one "plain and simple" reason Republicans are fighting so hard against illegal immigration. 

During an interview with NewsNation, the Harris campaign surrogate was asked whether the Democratic presidential nominee still supports “decriminalizing illegal immigration,” as she did during the 2020 Democratic primary. 

There's no evolution. "Decriminalizing border crossing" means that you do not have the child separation policy, where you put parents in jail for crossing the border and separating them from their children.
 
 "Having consequences" means that you do not get to come into the United States and you do not get to apply for asylum or get a work permit. Those are two very different things and they're very different ways of attacking this issue.
 
 Donald Trump separated children from their families, many of whom have not -- still -- been reunited. Kamala Harris wants to make sure that we have an orderly process at the border, that those who have legitimate claims of asylum can come in, and that we continue to bolster and increase lawful visas because our economy is desperately in need of people to do jobs, all the way throughout the spectrum from agriculture jobs, to scientists and doctors. We are short all up and down that spectrum of workers who can to fill those jobs.
 
 So what we need to have is an orderly process that can make sure that we are welcoming people into this country -- as we are a country of immigrants -- but we're making sure that only those who are qualified and proper to come in do so in an orderly fashion. That is what the Biden-Harris policy is.
 
The Trump policy is to deport everybody, whether they have a green card or not. And just to eliminate all immigration essentially because they do not want people who are not white to come into this country. It's plain and simple. And so I look forward to the vice president and the former president answering those questions on Tuesday. (Transcript via RCP)