On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) acknowledged that “The border is secure. That’s a good thing.” And President Donald Trump will “get credit for that.” But “In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration or beyond, there’s a lot that is left to be desired.”
Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “[O]ne of President Trump’s key campaign promises was also on immigration, right? So, even if you disagree with the way this immigration crackdown is happening, according to government data, U.S. Border Patrol has released zero undocumented migrants into the U.S. for six consecutive months, and daily average apprehensions at the southwest border are lower now than under Biden. Are you willing to give President Trump any credit for that?”
Jeffries responded, “Well, let’s take the two issues together, right? First, we believe in a safe, a strong, and a secure border, and that’s important. And we’ll continue to stand behind that. At the same period of time, we acknowledge, of course, we have a broken immigration system, it needs to be fixed. But it should be fixed in a comprehensive and in a bipartisan way. The American people strongly disagree with the approach that Donald Trump has taken in terms of interior enforcement and immigration, because Republicans promised that they were going to go after violent felons. We support that. They’re not going after violent felons. They’re breaking up families, law-abiding immigrant families, in some cases, actually deporting citizen children of the United States of America. That’s completely and totally unacceptable. And the American people know it, which is why, in the most recent Gallup poll, Donald Trump’s approval rating on immigration was underwater by 25 points.”
Brown followed up, “And it is true that the polls show, in terms of the tactics used, that the majority, they don’t like the tactics being used, but in terms of the border, securing the border, can you give President Trump any credit for securing the border? Because, as you know, that was a big issue under the Biden administration, when you had record border crossings. And those border crossings have gone down dramatically. Can you give him credit for that?”
Jeffries responded, “The border is secure. That’s a good thing. It’s happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it. Of course, he’ll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration or beyond, there’s a lot that is left to be desired.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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