Capehart: GOP Using Migrants as ‘Pawns’ Helped Make Immigration an Issue, Sanctuaries Can’t Work if Border Doesn’t

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post Associate Editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart stated that part of the reason why concerns around the border and immigration have grown is because Republican governors are “using immigrants and using human beings for political purposes, using them as pawns in their political games” by sending them to Democratic cities.

After New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that people along the border aren’t playing politics with the issue, Capehart said he agrees, “But let’s talk about an even more cynical view, and that is Republican governors sending migrants from their states to northern cities, to cities that are run by Democratic mayors, and thus using immigrants and using human beings for political purposes, using them as pawns in their political games. And I think that’s also why we see concern about immigration rising up to the top, including in places like New York City, which, Republicans like to deride it as, well, you’re a sanctuary city, well, you should take care of this. But in order for those things to work, things need to work at the border. And so, this is a problem that is not one of President Biden’s making. To your point, this is — we haven’t been this close to an immigration deal since President George W. Bush, the Republican, but this is something that has bedeviled both Republican and Democratic presidents, simply because the incentives have not really been there to do anything about it.”

Capehart added that the border situation can’t change substantively without congressional action.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett