West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey slammed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in a statement on Tuesday, contending that Manchin’s support for liberal immigration policies will “reinstate the dangerous catch and release” policies of Barack Obama.
Manchin announced that he will cosponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) Keep Families Together Act, which would release all aliens caught crossing the border illegally.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) slammed the bill, charging that the bill will bring a flood of illegal immigration and human smuggling to America’s southern border. Cotton called the bill the “Child Trafficking Encouragement Act.”
Morrisey, who is running against Manchin for the U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia, agreed with Sen. Cotton and argued that the bill would grant “special privileges” to “illegal immigrant criminals, drug dealers, and child-traffickers,” using children as a shield to cross the border in larger numbers.
Morrisey said:
Of course there should be steps taken to keep families together in a humane way at the border, and Congress must change the laws to make that happen. This does not excuse Joe Manchin joining with liberals in Washington to reinstate the dangerous catch and release, open-border policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Not only does this partisan proposal that Manchin has signed give special privileges to illegal immigrant criminals, drug dealers, and child-traffickers, it will encourage the use of vulnerable children as shields to illegally cross the border in greater numbers.
The West Virginia Attorney General continued, “Manchin joined Obama in support of amnesty for illegal immigrants, voiced opposition to Trump’s border wall, and now is joining with radical liberals in Washington to push a pro-illegal immigrant, open-border agenda.”
When Breitbart News reached out to Sen. Manchin’s office regarding the senator’s support for Feinstein’s legislation, they referred Breitbart News to Manchin’s Monday statement, which says:
As a father, grandfather, and Christian, I am wholeheartedly opposed to any policy that allows innocent children to be separated from their parents as they enter our country. We need to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws, which is why I have voted multiple times on billions of dollars in border security, including a wall on our southern border. However, no law requires pulling children from the arms of their parents. That is why today I am signing onto the Keep Families Together Act because it is currently the only legislative vehicle we have to fix this problem. But I am actively working with my Republican colleagues to find solutions to the issues that are not addressed in the Keep Families Together Act and I continue to believe that the comprehensive 2013 immigration bill that included 700 miles of fencing, an addition 20,000 border control agents and other measures to secure our border is where we should begin this process.
“West Virginia needs a Senator who will stand with President Trump to defend our borders and put Americans first, not illegal immigrant criminals,” Morrisey concluded in his statement.