Republican presidential candidates touted hardline immigration positions during the second GOP primary debate, echoing the party’s positioning but advancing policies largely indistinguishable from one another.
Why it matters: Since the Trump administration, the Republican field has moved further to the right on immigration – and extreme proposals have become mainstream views for many in the GOP.
Nearly every Republican running for president supports building a wall along the southern border, including candidates who were previously sceptical of the idea, Axios previously reported.
What they’re saying: Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who has proposed a comprehensive immigration platform, said during the debate that he would “seal” the southern border because “building the wall is not enough,” but dodged a question about his proposals to stop fentanyl.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he would declare the border a national emergency and reinstate the “stay in Mexico” policy.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that the issues surrounding the southern border were “law enforcement issues” and that he would send the National Guard to the southern border.
Christie also criticised former President Trump for not building a wall along the entire border.
“He said he was going to build a wall across the entire border. He built 52 miles of wall and said Mexico was going to pay for it,” Christie said.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley struck a similar tone to her GOP rivals, saying “we need to secure the border” by defunding sanctuary cities and adding Border Patrol agents to the border, among other proposals.
Former Vice President Mike Pence called for “fixing a broken immigration system” in addition to securing the southern border, and touted the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was among the first to join calls for tougher immigration policies, saying Biden should have been at the southern border instead of the United Autoworkers picket line.
The other side: The Democratic National Committee War Room account on social media platform X criticised Pence for his immigration comments.
“Mike Pence wants to bring back the immigration policies of the Trump-Pence administration, which undermined the American immigration system at every turn, used people as political pawns, and left a backlog of immigration cases,” the DNC account wrote.
The big picture: Crossings at the southern border have emerged as a flashpoint issue as Republican governors have responded to unprecedented crossings with massive efforts to bus migrants to other destinations, Axios previously reported.
