OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Donald Trump revealed that if he runs for president again and is elected, his first executive action would be to restart the construction of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump said building the wall was important because it also projected a message of strength to world leaders like China’s Xi Jinping.
“First of all, the wall, even for him,” Trump said referring to Xi. “You know why? Because when he sees millions of people pouring into our country, he loses respect for our country.”
“When him and Putin and Kim Jong Un and Iran’s leaders, when they’re watching millions of people walk into our country … They lose respect,” he added.
“It’s so easy. You close it up, you got to close it up. And that would send a big signal, a really big signal,” Trump stated. “And then you’ve got to get their respect again. How do you do that? You do that by making sure that they know that this country is here and it’s here to stay and we’re not going to take any nonsense.”
Record numbers of migrant encounters have been seen along the U.S.-Mexico border practically since Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Last week, Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich sounded the alarm on the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
During an interview on Fox News, Brnovich slammed Joe Biden’s “failed” immigration policies.
“Every time you think … we’ve hit rock bottom, something else happens,” he said. “There’s a record amount of people flooding into this country this year. Just last week, our office was involved in a record amount of fentanyl seized. Americans are dying. Our cities are more dangerous as a result of the failed Biden administration’s policies.”
Cartels “have seized operational control” of the southern border, Brnovich said, adding that Arizona has seized more than 6 million fentanyl pills over the past week alone.
Transcript below:
NEVILLE: “Let’s bring in Mark Brnovich, now he’s the attorney general of Arizona. First of all, how is the administration, the Biden administration violating the laws?”
BRNOVICH: “Well, on numerous levels, Arthel. Thank you for having me on. We actually have multiple pieces of litigation against the Biden administration. They stopped building the border wall. They stopped enforcing deportation of people, deportation orders, a violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Code. And we have a lawsuit right now at the U.S. Supreme Court that I will be arguing in February where the Biden Administration has essentially provided incentives including government benefits for people that have entered the country illegally. So basically, the Biden administration inherited a strong economy, energy independence, a secure border, and in less than a year they’ve essentially gifted the American people with rising inflation, record energy prices, and gas prices, and now the cartels have seized control of our border.”
NEVILLE: “Well, listen, it took him a while, but President Biden restored former President Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which was definitely not perfect. The border was not completely secure. He was on the way to getting there, we assume. But I want to ask you, though, why is re-implementing the Remain in Mexico policy so confusing?”
BRNOVICH: “Well, Arthel, it is just one step. And I would argue that the reason why he is trying to re-implement that is because of the lawsuits. That was also litigation that I and some of my colleagues were involved in. It was important to try to hold the Biden Administration accountable. That policy basically says that if you’re going to make those asylum claims, you have to do those in Mexico. But that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Let’s take a step back. I was a gang prosecutor, a prosecutor for years, so it’s all about the facts and evidence. If you talk to Border Patrol agents, you look at the numbers, a record amount of people illegally crossing, they have never seen got-aways, these are people that aren’t being recorded, that are evading detection. We know in Arizona, more than 9 million illegal or counterfeit fentanyl pills were just seized last year alone. Our office was involved with the bust with Scottsdale P.D. and DEA. There was enough fentanyl powder and pills, more than 6 million pills in one bust just two weeks ago. And that fentanyl, those are drugs that two milligrams can be deadly. And that’s not staying here in Arizona, it’s not staying in Texas. It will affect all of our communities.”
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