by CHQ Staff
Ever since the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings Senator Lindsey Graham has been on a roll, and his appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday was a great example.
Graham warned that the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding cannot end as long as the “radical left” insists on reflexively calling Republicans racist for supporting immigration officials.
Democrats who want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deride Border Patrol agents for using tear gas hold too much power in the ongoing shutdown negotiations, Graham said.
“We’re having to negotiate with people who want to abolish ICE, not support ICE,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “We’re having to negotiate with people who see border patrol agents gassing children, rather than defending our borders as professional law enforcement officers.”
He continued: “And we’re negotiating with people who will accuse all of us who support a wall as part of border security as racists. As long as the radical left is in charge, we’re not going to get anywhere. … The goal is to fix a broken immigration system, to bring reality to this table.”
Sen. Graham is right but fixing our broken immigration system or safeguarding the border is the last thing the Democrats are interested in now that Donald Trump is President.
Recall that in 2013, during the Obama administration, Border Patrol agents used pepper spray to fend off a crowd of approximately 100 migrants who attempted to rush the San Ysidro port of entry. The migrants in that episode also reportedly threw rocks and bottles at U.S. authorities.
Nevertheless, prominent Democrats lined up to hammer the administration shortly afterwards, as images of migrants fleeing tear gas fumes circulated. New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has also called for ICE to be abolished, called the use of tear gas “horrendous.”
Of course, Sen. Gillibrand is running for President, so she can be expected to say anything to put herself to the Left of the other 20 Democrats who have floated their names as Trump’s 2020 opponent.
However, as Lukas Mikelionis of Fox News pointed out, the leading Democrats who are not running for President are no better.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has become a fervent critic of Trump’s immigration policies. Earlier this year he snubbed an immigration reform proposed by the White House that would have allowed nearly two million so-called “Dreamers” to become U.S. citizens while providing $25 billion for border wall and security.
“This plan flies in the face of what most Americans believe,” Schumer tweeted, adding that Trump uses the young immigrants “as a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hard-liners have advocated for years.”
But in 2009, Schumer took the exact hardline view. “First, illegal immigration is wrong … and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, just as Schumer, has taken a radically different position in the past.
During a 2008 press conference, Pelosi addressed the “challenge” of illegal immigrants and said “we certainly do not want any more coming in.”
“Do we have a commitment to secure the border? Yes. What are the options that we have available to us, let’s make sure they work,” Pelosi said.
“Because we do need to address the issue of immigration and the challenge we have of undocumented people in our country. We certainly do not want any more coming in.”
In 2013, Pelosi reiterated her support for the border security, urging the House to vote for a bill that “our basic principles” such as securing “our borders.”
But despite her previous views, both Schumer and Pelosi slammed Trump for highlighting the issue of immigration and the caravan heading to the U.S.
“The president is desperate to change the subject from health care to immigration because he knows that health care is the number one issue Americans care about,” their statement read.
Senator Graham told “Face the Nation” that, “Right now, the people running the show on the left are radical liberal Democrats who don’t see a border security problem, they see their own government being the problem… There’s a deal to be had here, but it will include a wall.”
Senator Graham went on the say, “We’ll have offers on the table when we find somebody that’s not crazy to deal with…” judging by what the Democrats’ leaders are saying it looks to us like it is going to be a long shutdown, if it can’t end until someone who is not crazy represents them at the negotiating table.
Watch Sen Graham’s full segment on Face the Nation:
