Donald Trump said the United States does not have a border at the moment, and that is why people are “flowing in like candy” to the country.
“Despite what they’re saying, we don’t have a border right now,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News after he spoke at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa on Saturday.
In his address, Trump said the border is like “a sieve where people come in and stay for however long they want.”
“You either have a country or you don’t,” Trump said. “Having a country starts with securing the borders.”
In his interview, Trump said the first thing that needs to be done before any immigration reform plan is debated is to “create some form of a border.”
Trump had warned attendees at the Family Leadership Summit that Republicans who support comprehensive immigration reform may be creating millions of Democrats. He said that such a change in the law could be a “death wish” for the GOP because, “if you do something where they get a vote,” then nearly all of the illegal immigrants will be “voting Democratic.”
“They are not going to be voting Republican,” Trump said. “That’s the way it is. Democrats have taken hold of the issue.”
He said Republicans had to be “very careful” with legalization plans because “it could be a death wish for the Republican Party.” Trump emphasized that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) led the battle for comprehensive immigration reform that would potentially create up to 50 million new voters that will not be voting for Republicans.