Democrats Contradict Pelosi and Schumer, Say Border Barrier Would Be ‘Useful’
By Melanie Arter
CNSNews.com
January 11, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are adamant that a wall on the border would be “ineffective,” but several Democrats recently indicated that fencing along the border would be useful, Breitbart reports:
“If we have a partial wall, if we have fencing, if we have technology used to keep our border safe, all of that is fine,” Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), said on CNN.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) also backed a barrier along the U.S. border with Mexico.
“Some fencing is useful, some barriers are useful,” Merkley said. “There’s a lot of surveillance technology. I’ve been to some cities on the border that have triple fencing and have more personnel and have the technology to see the people moving in the middle of the night.”
Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY)–the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee–said they would support fencing and barriers where necessary along the border.
Nadler said he would “maybe” support a fence “in some places,” but “not a 700-mile fence.
Swalwell said, “I agree. This is a lot of money. Money is not the issue here. I think it’s the values of do we— are we a country that puts a wall between ourself and an allied nation or do we use smart security measures, increase Border Patrol agents, increase enforcement of overstay or visas, increase use of technology, and yes, fencing where there are vulnerabilities.”
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was asked during a recent appearance on CNN, “You say you are willing to have border security. Hakeem Jeffries, who will be the number 5 in the House, yesterday told me that means enhanced fencing. He also won’t rule out perhaps more money for border security, so is there — Look, if an extraterrestrial came to earth right now without knowing anything and tried to solve this problem, he might say, ‘Well, why not do $1.6 billion and call it a fence and not a border wall?’ Would Democrats allow and pay for some new fencing?
Durbin said, “Well, I can tell you, we’ve had fencing in the past. I’m sure we will in the future. It won’t be a big long, beautiful 2,000-mile wall.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) says Democrats support a barrier including a fence. “Democrats have repeatedly said that we will support border security, we will support all of its elements including fences,” Garamendi said.
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the Vice Chair of the Democrat conference, says that the border would benefit from additional barriers. “You know, I think there are parts of the border that would benefit from repairing fencing and other barricades that already exist there,” she told MSNBC.
