Former California governor and eternal Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, weighed in on the debate raging over the separation of illegal immigrant families, and once again managed to work in a screen-ready line.
Schwarzenegger has made clear that he’s not a huge fan of Donald Trump, frequently portraying himself as Trump’s celebrity Republican foil. While Schwarzenegger’s been focusing much of his attention online recently to promoting California’s open primary in the face of pushback from “establishment” politicians, he took a moment Tuesday to comment on the immigration debate surrounding Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy.
The former Mr. Universe made clear that he agrees with Trump that we must secure the border and fix America’s “absurdly broken immigration system,” but suggested the current situation cannot stand. Those politicians using the kids as “pawns” while refusing to do their jobs, he said, are the ones who deserve to be in cages.
“As an immigrant, I know the magnetic power of America’s greatness. As a former border Governor, I know the importance of securing our border and fixing our absurdly broken immigration system. As an American, I know that kids shouldn’t be pawns while the ‘adults’ figure it out,” he tweeted Tuesday.
“The administration is right that we need to fix our immigration system,” he added. “But if anybody is going to be in a cage while we wait for a comprehensive reform, let’s make it the politicians who don’t do their jobs in the cages, not innocent kids.”
Despite all their talk of wanting to take action to stop the splitting up of families who’ve crossed into the country illegally, on Tuesday the Democrats in the Senate shut down a bill that would have addressed the problem. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told the press after the Democrats rejected the bill that instead of a more permanent legislative fix, which he suggested would be too slow, he wanted Trump to have to take action.
“There are so many obstacles to legislation and when the president can do it with his own pen, it makes no sense,” said Schumer. “Legislation is not the way to go here when it’s so easy for the president to sign it. How many times has immigration legislation passed in this Congress? How many times? Zero. It’s an excuse from our Republican colleagues who feel the heat, don’t want to attack the president, even though they know, they know legislation will take a very long time and is unlikely to happen, and the flick of a president’s pen could solve this tomorrow.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, said it’s up to Congress to find a way to do their jobs by “making a law and not get into some sparring match back and forth that leads to no conclusion.”
Related: Trump SMACKS Schwarzenegger . . . At National Prayer Breakfast
H/T Daily Mail