I promised Pennsylvanians I would never be a rubber stamp for any president, even one in my own party.
“Illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple. Until the American people are convinced that we will stop future flows of illegal immigration, we will make no progress on dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants who are here now, and on rationalizing our system of legal immigration. That’s plain and simple and unavoidable.”
Those words were not spoken by President Donald Trump or any Republican. They’re from Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in 2009 — and he was right.
Since then, our government has failed to secure the border. Large numbers of individuals, including some who are violent criminals, cross the southern border illegally. On the dangerous journey to the U. S., many migrant women and children are exploited by human traffickers. And deadly illicit drugs, like fentanyl, are smuggled over the border through and between ports of entry, coming into our towns and ruining lives.
For these reasons, President Trump has sensibly made securing the southern border a central goal of his presidency. Last year, I voted for $25 billion in border security funding because I support him in these efforts to keep Americans safe, including his recent request for $5.7 billion to build 234 miles of physical barriers at the 10 most critical locations as determined by the border patrol.
Unfortunately, when the president’s request came before Congress, Sen. Schumer and his Democratic colleagues changed their position on border security. After having voted for up to $24 billion in funding for physical barriers in 2018,this year, Democrats agreed to fund only a small fraction of the amount needed to build physical barriers.
The president’s most recent predecessors — two Republicans and two Democrats — built physical barriers at the border.
