Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley attacked former President Trump on Sunday, accusing him of using the border crisis for political purposes. This came after he urged Republican senators to oppose the highly-criticized bipartisan border bill.
Haley expressed these views during her appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Dana Bash. She concurred with Bash’s assessment that Trump was attempting to impede advancements in addressing illegal immigration to keep it as a political issue.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “Let’s turn to the crisis at the U.S. southern border. Bipartisan negotiators in the U.S. Senate, they are set to release the text of a deal on border security soon. Donald Trump, as you know, is pushing Republican Senators to oppose the deal in part because he wants to run on the issue in 2024 in this election year. You call that a mistake. Are you saying the former president is playing politics with the border?”
Haley replied, “I think nobody should be playing politics with the border. He shouldn’t be getting involved telling Republicans to wait until the election because we don’t want this to help Biden win. We can’t wait one more day. You have millions of people who have come to that board, they are not being vetted. America is acting like it’s September 10. It only takes one. This is not a time to play politics.”
Haley emphasized that any reform bill should incorporate a “Remain in Mexico” provision to ensure that illegal immigrants do not enter U.S. territory.
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She also spoke to fellow Republicans who contend that President Biden possesses all the necessary tools to guarantee border security by simply enforcing the existing laws.
She said, “Yes, Biden could go back to some of the laws, but three million illegal immigrants came under Trump. That’s because the asylum laws are not strong enough. We need to strengthen the asylum laws so we don’t have people coming in here for loose reasons.”
Haley also revisited a statement she had made the previous week, where she hinted at the possibility of U.S. states having the right to secede from the union. She clarified that the U.S. Constitution does not permit states to secede. However, she added that tensions between states like Texas and the federal government stem from Washington’s failure to act in the best interests of the voters.
She added, “People don’t think the government is listening to them. I’ve been 400 miles on that border, Dana. When you see what those ranchers are going through, when you see what those people in Eagle Pass are going through, and when you see what’s going on in New York and other cities across the country – because now every city is Eagle Pass – we’ve gotta start getting this under control.”
