Sen. Chris Murphy from Connecticut heard angry comments from some of his state’s citizens about his and his Democratic Party’s positions on open borders and amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Murphy, a Democrat seeking re-election to a second term in the U.S. Senate this year, is a progressive who wore a green “Defender of the Universe” T-shirt while conducting his third annual walk across the state.
According to a report in the Telegraph, Murphy received an “earful” from Connecticut citizens about the Democrats’ stance on open borders for illegal immigrants and the recent call for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by some. Murphy said he does not support abolishing ICE.
Lots of people on my walk told me how horrified they are by Trump's family separation policy. We need to reunite these kids with their parents. https://t.co/zBo3KguCJD
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 9, 2018
Gary Pavano, an air-conditioner repairman, told Murphy he did not want his tax dollars supporting illegal immigrants in detention facilities.
“I email you!,” Pavano said. “Why didn’t you answer? I email you all the time. I get a boiler-plate answer!”
The news report continued:
“I can’t support you anymore,” said John O’Brien, an unaffiliated voter from Berlin with a Trump sticker on his car. O’Brien was a former union Democrat, he said, but abandoned the party because “I’m not getting Social Security increases because we are supporting people like them,” referring to undocumented immigrants.
Murphy reminding [sic] him that waves of immigrants throughout history — like O’Brien’s ancestors — sought to come to this country.
Similarly, Ann Reilly said Murphy’s walk across the state was a “show.”
Reilly confronted the senator about the effects of illegal immigration on the economy and asserted immigrants should remain in their countries while they apply for asylum in the U.S.
“There a [sic] lots of people who legitimately come to the border because they fear for their life or their kids’ lives,” Murphy responded.
“You could say that, quite honestly, going into Hartford and New Britain, parts of the areas, right?” Reilly interrupted. “My husband and I, we’re starting to watch Fox News in the morning, and I’m like ‘Oh my God!’”
“Ecuador and Hartford, Connecticut are, respectfully, not the same.” Murphy countered, however.
As the Telegraph observes, Murphy received a very different response while walking in Hartford as most people complained of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Murphy told them that for Democrats to gain control in November, they might focus on economic issues in the way Bernie Sanders did in 2016.
“Democrats often pay way too much attention to identity politics and cultural and social issues, at the expense of the kitchen table issues that I’m hearing about on this walk,” Murphy said.
Murphy is also a major proponent of gun control in the Senate. He recently referred to Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, as a “Second Amendment radical.”
Connecticut's strong gun laws could be in jeopardy if Kavanaugh gets confirmed to the Supreme Court. #WhatsAtStakehttps://t.co/P44c0l7Cfz
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 12, 2018
Brett Kavanaugh is a true Second Amendment radical. He believes assault weapon bans are unconstitutional, a position way out of the judicial mainstream, far to the right of even late Justice Scalia.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 10, 2018
Murphy will face one of two Republicans – Matthew Corey or Dominic Rapini – in the general election in November. The Connecticut primary is August 14.
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