Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has accused former President Trump of “playing politics” with the border crisis Sunday after he called on Republican senators to kill a bipartisan border bill.
During a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Haley agreed with host Dana Bash that Trump was seeking to halt progress on illegal immigration to continue using it as a political issue.
Nikki Haley just went on CNN to voice her support for a border deal that allows millions of illegals to pour into the country and gives billions to Ukraine. Instead of attacking Biden, Haley trashes President Trump for getting involved and “playing politics with the border”. pic.twitter.com/sI6JA5BXME
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) February 4, 2024
“Well, I think nobody should be playing politics with the border. First of all, he shouldn’t be getting involved, telling Republicans to wait until the election because we don’t want this to help President Biden win. We can’t wait one more day because you have millions of people who come to that border; they are not being vetted.” Haley responded.
“America’s acting like it’s September 10. We better remember what September 12 felt like because it only takes one. This is not a time to play politics,” Haley added.
Bash then pressed Haley again on whether Trump is “playing politics” on the border deal.
“Of course he is. He’s absolutely playing politics by telling them not to do anything. But what I do think they need to do is they’ve got to put a tough immigration law in place,” Haley responded.
Former Gov. Haley continued to say that a “Remain in Mexico” provision must be included in any reform bill to make sure illegal immigrants never step foot on U.S. soil.
She also addressed Republicans who argue Biden already has all the tools he needs to ensure border security if he were to start enforcing the law.
“Yes, Biden could go back to some of the laws, but three million illegal immigrants came under Trump. That’s because the asylum laws are not strong enough. We need to strengthen the asylum laws so we don’t have people coming here for loose reasons,” Haley said.
The former South Carolina governor is facing intense pressure to drop out of the 2024 GOP primary after losing the first two contests of the Republican primary cycle to former President Donald Trump.
Haley has said that while she doesn’t need to beat Trump in her home state’s Republican presidential primary later this month, the results must be better for her than in New Hampshire.
