On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” co-host Sara Sidner stated that Republicans have ensured that immigration is “in the faces of people who don’t normally see it” in New York and Martha’s Vineyard, regardless of “how bad” the busing is from a humanitarian standpoint.
Sidner asked CNN Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser Van Jones, “Van, what should the Biden administration do about this issue of immigration? Because it’s not just being seen on the border. One of the things that Republicans made sure of is busing people, no matter how bad humanitarianly that is, is dropping people off in places like New York and Martha’s Vineyard so that it’s in the faces of people who don’t normally see it.”
Jones responded, “Republicans had a strategy when it came to immigration, scream fire, then spread the fire to blue states, and then stop the fire trucks when it was time for Congress to act. And so, it’s going to take time for people to understand that they’re getting scammed on this. But everybody has a breaking point when it comes to immigration, how many people can come here without papers? Is it one, is it two, is it a billion? Well, now, everybody, including Democrats and Republicans, have hit the breaking point number. But Democrats were willing to act, Republicans won’t. … So, Democrats can win on immigration. It’s just it’s uphill for us.”
Manhattan Institute President Reihan Salam then stated that Democrats are “winning on the issue by actually pivoting against the Biden administration position.” He then pointed to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) expressing an openness to H.R. 2 that the Biden administration hasn’t shown and that migrants have been sent to areas that they want to go to.
Salam concluded, “Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), in the suburbs of Long Island, he’s been saying, hey guys, I’ve been very critical of the hard left on immigration for a long time, and he actually has a case to make. He ran as a primary candidate against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), saying, I’m going to be tougher on this issue than other Democrats. So, Fetterman and Suozzi have a case to make. It’s a heck of a lot tougher for President Biden to make that same case.”
Jones responded by turning to the Israel-Hamas conflict that came up earlier in the segment and said that “it’s not a hard left position to say that we’ve gone too far in terms of what’s happening in Gaza. That’s a mainstream American position, and I think that Biden, you will see, will adopt a mainstream American position to support Israel, but to also want more humanitarian support for what’s going on in Gaza. That’s not hard left.”
He continued, “And it’s also — when it comes to immigration, you are correct that the existing position is no longer popular in either party and you’re going to see Biden take the mainstream position there as well.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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