Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said during the first Republican Party presidential primary debate on Wednesday night that the U.S. can secure the southern border by getting rid of the 87,000 IRS employees funded by the Biden administration and hiring border agents instead.
“Let’s fire the 87,000 IRS agents and hire, or double, the number of Border Patrol agents,” the presidential candidate said. “I just left Yuma, Arizona, about two weeks ago. The most pressing need of the American people, from a national security standpoint, is our southern border. It has led to the death of 70,000 Americans because of fentanyl.”
“Plus, six million illegal crossings since President Biden has taken office, and 200 people on our national security watchlists have been caught at our border,” he added. “How many have not been caught at our southern border? If we just spent $10 billion we could finish the wall. For $5 billion more, we could have military-grade technology to surveil our southern border to stop the flow of fentanyl, and save 70,000 Americans a year.”
The 57-year-old said that would be his top priority and he would finish the border wall.
After the debate, Scott spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity about his performance and slammed some of the arguing that took place on the stage during the debate.
“I felt like I wanted to have a conversation, an adult conversation, about why America can do for anyone what she’s done for me,” Scott said. “We didn’t spend enough time talking about the challenges we have at our southern border. We didn’t talk long enough about the challenges that we have with China. It’s not the strength of China, it’s the weakness of Biden, that’s the problem that we face as a nation.”
“We need to dig into some of the most important, consequential issues facing the American people, and not have a food fight on the stage,” he added.