Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, is opposing a border wall between the United States and Mexico because people can’t see through it.
During a segment on CNN, Merkley was grilled by host Alisyn Camerota about why Democrats previously supported a border fence and other resources, but now refuse to give President Donald Trump hardly anything for his border wall.
“How is what President Trump is asking for different from what Congress wanted in 2006 that then-Senator Barack Obama supported, Hillary Clinton supported, Nancy Pelosi supported, which was fencing. Call it fencing, call it a wall. Why do we object, meaning you guys, object to a border wall when border fencing was considered by Democrats to be successful then?” Camerota asked.
“Yeah, border security, including fencing, is — I’ve been to the border, I’ve seen the fencing, you can see through it,” he claimed, offering arguably the weakest excuse yet for why Democrats won’t support the wall.
He doubled down on this ridiculous assertion and was oblivious to the fact that immigration officials would have a slew of options to see over the wall.
“In fact, the border guard itself says a concrete wall is an absolute mistake. They said that the border guard needs to be able to see what’s going on on the other side, that the wall doesn’t stop any bad things from happening, it just makes it impossible for the folks on our side to see what’s developing. It makes it more difficult for them,” he added.
Merkley went on to argue that a wall was a “fourth century strategy” and claimed it would do the opposite of securing the border.
“So we’re not going to fund a fourth century strategy easily defeated that makes life more difficult even for security. So here’s a president who claims he wants a wall for security but it does the opposite. Why should we fund that? It makes no sense at all and we’re not going to do it.”
Camerota — who found herself in hot water last week for questioning whether 2020 is “the right time” for a “white guy” to run for president — actually exposed Merkley and Democrats for being complete hypocrites on the issue.
On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted out a video montage showing Sen. Chuck Schumer, former President Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton all previously talking tough about illegal immigration and vowing to support “barriers” to secure the border.
Let’s not do a shutdown, Democrats – do what’s right for the American People! pic.twitter.com/bZg07ZKQqo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
Trump wants $5 billion for border wall funding included in the spending bill, which has to be passed through Congress in roughly one week or the government will partially shut down.
Democrats are only agreeing to $1.7 billion, which they claim is a “very generous offer.”
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