Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), running again for Virginia governor, once called for the United States to “shut these borders down” and to deport illegal aliens “taking our jobs” back to “the countries they came from.”

In an interview with Southern California public radio station KPCC on January 30, 2007, which Breitbart News has obtained, McAuliffe denounced illegal immigration, demanding U.S. borders be shut down to prevent illegal aliens from taking American jobs.

McAuliffe said:

We got to shut these borders down, absolutely. These people shouldn’t be coming in this country. We need to enforce our border protections … for the people who have not been here, who have been here illegally, and who have taken advantage of the situation, we need to have a plan to get them back to the countries they came from. [Emphasis added]

But more importantly … we got to shut these borders down … I don’t care if you are Democrat or Republican, we all agree you got to shut the borders down. People coming into our nation, taking our jobs … first and foremost, which I couldn’t agree more, we got to shut these borders down. And we got to spend more money on the enforcement of this and we got to start it today. [Emphasis added]

The resurfaced comments come as McAuliffe won the endorsement of CASA in Action — one of Virginia’s largest open borders lobbying groups.

“[McAuliffe] understands the critical role that Virginia plays in showing the nation that the Republican playbook of Trumpism and nativism doesn’t resonate in Virginia or anywhere,” CASA in Action Executive Director Alonzo Washington said in a statement.

CASA in Action previously worked with McAuliffe in May 2017 to prevent the deportation of an illegal alien woman from El Salvador who had been living illegally in the U.S. for over a decade.

While CASA helped the woman challenge her deportation, McAuliffe gave her an executive pardon in an attempt to halt her deportation. The woman was ultimately deported in 2017.

McAuliffe, while serving as governor of Virginia from January 2014 to January 2018, vetoed a number of pro-enforcement measures that would have disincentivized illegal immigration in the state.

In 2017, for example, McAuliffe vetoed legislation that would have banned local jurisdictions from declaring themselves “sanctuary cities” with policies that shield criminal illegal aliens from arrest and deportation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

Likewise, McAuliffe vetoed legislation that would have required Virginia jails and prisons to hold criminal illegal aliens in their custody until they could be turned over to ICE agents to prevent their release into communities.

Today, there are anywhere from 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the U.S., including at least 275,000 illegal aliens who reside in Virginia.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.