Leading GOP Presidential contender Gov. Scott Walker talked tough on illegal immigration over the Memorial Day weekend.
In an interview with Breitbart.com, Walker described his trip to the Southern Border with Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas
This is a matter of national security. This is truly a matter national sovereignty, in that if we were having people penetrate our water-based ports throughout the Gulf [of Mexico] or either coast, we’d be taking swift action initially with the Coast Guard and eventually probably with the Navy.
Yet, we have international criminal organizations seeking to penetrate our land-based borders to the south—the push for drugs, for firearms and increasingly for people from a trafficking standpoint—it’s just horrific we’re not taking more action to truly secure that border.
Almost all candidates claim to favor border security but they define that term very differently. Here Walker describes a more stout version of border security than say Barack Obama’s:
People say ‘oh we can’t secure the border.’ I disagree. I was just in Israel where they have something like 500 miles of fencing up and when they did that it dramatically lowered the number of terrorist-related attacks and they saw like a 90 percent reduction [in illegal immigration].
They’re a much, much, much smaller country than we are and we’re talking about a southern border that’s larger than that—but really only about four times larger than their entire country. It just shows me though that with investments in infrastructure, personnel and technology, there’s no reason why we can’t secure that border.
When I suggested this before, one of the more cynical reporters from another national outlet suggested to me ‘well, governor, the number of crossings is down, what level do you find acceptable?’ I said back to this reporter, ‘well, you stand in line at TSA at the airport, to see that your bags are scanned to make sure there’s no explosives on the airplane, what level of success do you find to be successful?’
Walker also staked out a more populist position on the overall question of immigration levels:
For me, not only those like myself who were born here but even the people over the years who have come here legally, again my stance is our priority should be for those who are working families whether they were born here like me or have come here through the legal process—if you’re in America and here working the right way. It’s the number one priority when we talk about legal immigration. I think it’s a smart approach moving forward and I think it’s rational to look at in other ways and I think it’s one where Republicans have ignored talking about the impact on American workers and strengthening working families.
