Trump Trolls Schumer on Twitter, Brings Up Anti-Illegal Immigration Quote from 2009
In a tweet on Wednesday, President Donald Trump highlighted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer espoused positions on illegal immigration very similar to his own not too long ago.
Trump quoted Schumer from a 2009 speech he gave at Georgetown University Law School.
“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally,” Schumer said.
“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.” Chuck Schumer in 2009, before he went left and haywire! @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2018
Schumer’s comments came not long after a failed bi-partisan push to reform the nation’s immigration system in 2007.
“Illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple,” the New York senator emphasized during his remarks.
“Until the American people are convinced that we will stop future flows of illegal immigration, we will make no progress in dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants who are here now and on rationalizing our system of legal immigration.”
Schumer also argued the only way to garner the needed public support to pass new legislation is to convince Americans that lawmakers view illegal immigration as wrong.
“When we use phrases like undocumented workers, we convey a message to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration, which the American people overwhelmingly oppose,” he said.
“If you don’t think it’s illegal, you’re not going to say it. I think it is illegal and wrong. We have to change it,” the senator said.
A Harvard-Harris poll conducted in June found that 70 percent of respondents want stricter enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.
In addition, 63 percent of Americans agree with Trump’s Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals compromise that would allow legalized status in exchange for increased border security (most notably a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border), as well as an end of the visa lottery program and chain migration.
The president refers to his plan as the “four pillars” of immigration reform.
In January, Schumer came out in opposition to Trump’s plan, wanting DACA handled as a stand alone issue.
Other findings of the Harvard-Harris survey include 61 percent agreeing with Trump that border security is inadequate.
Additionally, 76 percent said they oppose “open borders,” which some on the left wing of the Democrat Party have been accused of promoting.
The poll also found 69 percent of respondents were against abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE.
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