OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is vowing to finish the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico if she wins the election.
During an interview, Lake also made it clear that there was nothing President Joe Biden could do to stop her from finishing Donald Trump’s border wall if she becomes the next governor of Arizona.
Lake said she would not ask for the federal government’s permission to finish sections of the border wall that were not yet completed during Trump’s tenure while essentially daring Biden to “arrest” her for doing so.
“Illegals don’t ask permission to break the law. I won’t ask permission to build the wall,” Lake said.
“I was down at the border, and within five minutes of arriving and stepping out of the vehicle, people were walking over under Joe Biden’s policy… President Trump’s policy, the remain in Mexico policy, was the best border policy I’ve ever seen in my 27 years covering Arizona. It worked,” she added.
“And Joe Biden came in on day one and pulled that, and now we’re seeing a crisis. We need to build the wall, and first of all, we need to sue the federal government for failing to protect us, and while that lawsuit is working its way through the system, let’s go down and start building the wall. We have many, many miles of Arizona state land we could be building an on, and let’s finish these little gaps. They’re coming through a funnel, where there’s a gap in the president’s wall, and it is on federal land, but let’s build the wall anyway. What’s Joe Biden going to do? Arrest a sitting governor?” she continued.
In March 2021, Lake posted a video on Twitter in which she publicly resigned from her profession, noting that after spending decades as a journalist, she grew disillusioned and did not like the left-wing direction her industry has been trending.
Last month, Lake tore into a liberal reporter for attempting to attack her.
“I offered my border policy to the Arizona Republic. Your management refused to take it unless I took out the word invasion, which tells me that you guys are on the side of the cartels,” Lake said to the reporter.
“Then why did you agree to do an interview?” the reporter said.
“Because you’ve been pestering me nonstop,” the candidate said.
“That’s true,” the reporter said.
“The only discussion that the Arizona Republic is interested in is a far-left discussion. And Stacy, you’ve been here 10 months you don’t understand Arizona. I’m sorry to say that. I’m out with people every day. I’m out with hundreds of people every day, 1000s of people some days. They’re fed up but what’s happening at our border. I appreciate your time. We gave you one more question, you asked the question. We’ve given you probably what, five or 10 minutes longer? I appreciate your time, but I’m really prepared for another hit piece from the Republic. The good news is our polling is showing that every day you guys write a hit piece on me or every week, and it’s not sticking because the good people of Arizona—who I have a relationship with and I’ve had a relationship with for 27 years—are not buying the garbage that you guys are peddling,” the candidate said.
“I don’t understand why you are attacking my you know, having lived here a short period of time. This is a state of newcomers,” the reporter said.
“I’m just saying Stacy you don’t understand what the people of Arizona want. You don’t understand the people because you haven’t had a relationship like I have for 27 years. And you’re here for 10 months acting like you know what the people of Arizona want when it comes to the border. The people of Arizona want to secure state. The people of Arizona want to make sure their kids don’t get their hands on drugs. The people of Arizona want to make sure that the cartels no longer have operational control of our border. And we will when I am governor, take back control of our border. We will finish President Trump’s wall, we will send our Arizona National Guard down to the border, and we will arm them. We’re not going to let people over and when we find people we’re going to send them back,” the candidate said.
