Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in 2009 that construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along the southern border made the border “far more secure” because it created a “significant barrier to illegal immigration.”
Schumer made the remarks while addressing the 6th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference at Georgetown University about the seven principles he said were the basis of an immigration reform package that he wanted to pass.
“The first of these seven principles is that illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple,” Schumer said. “When we use phrases like ‘undocumented workers,’ we convey a message to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration, which the American people overwhelmingly oppose.”
“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the United States legally,” Schumer continued. “Any immigration solution must recognize that we must do as much as we can to gain operational control of our borders as soon as possible.”
Schumer then explained that the construction of border barriers along the southern border made the border a safer place as it made it much tougher for migrants to illegally enter the U.S.
“The American people need to know that, because of our efforts in Congress, our border is far more secure today than it was when we began debating comprehensive immigration reform in 2005,” Schumer stated. “Between 2005 and 2009, a vast amount of progress has been made on our borders and ports of entry.”
“This progress includes … construction of 630 miles of border fence that create a significant barrier to illegal immigration on our southern land border,” Schumer explained.
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Other video clips of Schumer show the Democrat senator talking tough about illegal immigration, referring to illegal aliens as “criminals” and saying: “One of the most effective things we do on the border is turn people back … they get up to the border and we find them and say, ‘go home!'”
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Democrats have drastically changed their stances since President Donald Trump entered the political scene as a presidential candidate in 2015.
In 2013, all 54 Democrats in the Senate voted to pass “The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, And Immigration Modernization Act,” which provided $46 billion for border security, which included hundreds of miles of additional physical barriers.
Senate Republicans recently released an ad attacking Schumer for “playing politics with the safety of the American people.”
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