In an interview with Huntsville, AL ABC affiliate WAAY 31’s “Guerilla Politics” that aired Sunday, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) argued that despite the controversies President Donald Trump is facing, his hawkish immigration policy still resonates with Americans.

Brooks cited public safety and economic reason for this and argued part of that policy should include improving border security.

“[W]e got who knows how many thousands or tens of thousands of Americans who would be alive today if we had better border security either because they’ve lost their lives as victims of murders by illegal aliens, or vehicular homicides involving illegal aliens, or succumbed to the poisons of drug trafficking that the illegal aliens, so many of them, are involved in, particularly MS-13,” Brooks told co-host, Dale Jackson and Waymon Burke. “How many American lives have to be lost before we figure out that perhaps border security, building a wall, E-verify, all the different things we can do to protect ourselves from criminal conduct of others is appropriate.”

Brooks explained that his “first priority” was to better conditions for American citizens and those here legally.

“We have to focus on the impact on Americans and lawful immigrants — how much damage is done to Americans and lawful immigrants because of this huge surge in the labor supply that suppresses wages and diminishes the abilities of Americans and lawful immigrants to earn enough money to take care of their own families,” he said. “The wages have not gone up like they normally would in this kind of employment market in large part because of the huge surge in labor from foreign countries, but legal and illegal. You got to balance the good and the compassion versus the damage that is done to Americans and lawful immigrants. And my first priority is American citizens and trying to make sure that they prosper more than they currently are given the economic climate that we enjoy.”

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