Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has not been extremely forceful — either way — on the pro-migration border bill, at least compared to former President Donald Trump. She has publicly stated that there are things she likes about it and things she does not like about it, but ultimately concluded that lawmakers “need to adjust it, amend it in any way that they can, and they should not leave D.C. until they get us a border bill.”
Several Republican lawmakers have released statements expressing their opposition to the “Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024,” as they have said that it will not actually address the border crisis, but make it worse. Additionally, it includes items that have nothing to do with border security, including “humanitarian” aid to Gaza, but without adequate safeguards to ensure the money is not used for “anti-American purposes,” as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) pointed out.
Republican frontrunner former President Donald Trump has been very vocal about his opposition to the measure.
“Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party.”
“It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans. Don’t be STUPID!!!” Trump exclaimed.
“We need a separate Border and Immigration Bill. It should not be tied to foreign aid in any way, shape, or form!” he said.
“The Democrats broke Immigration and the Border. They should fix it. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he added.
His opponent, Nikki Haley, however, has not been as forceful in opposition, although there are some reports on social media that Haley has said she does not support it because it “doesn’t go far enough”:
Breitbart News reached out to Haley’s campaign asking to clarify her position on the bill — whether she supports it or is against it. Further, Breitbart News asked the campaign to clarify what Haley meant if she did, indeed, say that the measure does not go far enough, given that it actually creates polices to worsen illegal immigration rather than reduce it. Her team did not answer any of those questions, instead pointing to Haley’s recent interview with Neil Cavuto.
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During that interview, Haley said that Americans were “tired of a do-nothing Congress,” criticizing their “inability to get anything done.” She then used the opportunity to criticize Trump, telling Cavuto, “You can’t have Trump sitting there saying don’t do anything until the election. We have a completely open border.”
“We need this fix. Now we need congressional members to stay in DC and not leave until they figure this out,” she said.
When asked if this bill was “better than nothing,” Haley did not directly answer, instead listing something she liked about the measure and things she did not like.
“If they’re going to do this, they need to do it right. The one part I like about this bill is I liked that it strengthens the asylum chart — the asylum requirements. That’s very important. We haven’t had that. We need that,” she said.
“The part that I don’t like about the bill, it doesn’t require Remain in Mexico, which is very important at keeping them from coming on U.S. soil in the first place. And I don’t like the 5,000 limit,” she said. “We don’t want anybody to come and we can’t say only when 5,000 people have crossed the border they need to stay there,” she asserted, adding that “they need to figure this out” and “amend it in any way that they can.”
“And they should not leave D.C. until they get us a border bill. And no, we are not waiting until the general election to do this,” she said before attacking Trump again.
“And it’s irresponsible to say that Congress has to wait until a general election because Trump is worried that he’s gonna lose. There’s a lot of reasons we got to worry Trump’s gonna lose, but you don’t sacrifice national security to do it,” she added.
Prior to the bill’s release, Haley criticized Trump for speaking out on the bill, stating that “nobody should be playing politics with the border” and adding that Trump “shouldn’t be getting involved telling Republicans that ‘Wait until the election, because we don’t want this to help Biden’ when we can’t wait one more day.”
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