On Thursday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE Director under President Obama, stated that the Biden-Harris administration made a “significant shift” on their border policies “this year,” and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris “does have to answer questions about why did the administration wait so long” to act on the border.
Host Connell McShane asked, “The Harris argument, she made it the other night at the debate, is basically that Trump killed that bipartisan bill for political reasons. Does she need to do more, though, to convince voters who are looking at this? Is that enough, or are some of the voters — especially swing voters going to need a little bit more from her on that issue?”
Sandweg answered, “I think it’s fair to say this: That the administration — the Biden-Harris administration made a significant shift this year, right? By endorsing that legislation, which really countered a lot of — upset a lot of the progressive groups and adopted some, I guess, compromises that you maybe hadn’t seen historically. So, I do think it’s a powerful narrative. That said, look, to be fair too, though, for better or worse, even though she was not the border czar, she does have to answer questions about why did the administration wait so long.”
Sandweg continued, “Look, the good news, though, and I think one of the reasons why, Connell, the numbers, immigration in those polls, why is it slipping down? The numbers at the border are down since the president announced the asylum reform. We’ve had five consecutive months of numbers in the mid-50-thousands, a really significant drop from the 250,000 numbers we were seeing before. I think that that is an issue that has dissipated a bit in terms of the importance, and I think that’s reflected in the polls, not that it’s not a significant issue, it’s a massive issue in this election, but just slightly down a bit because the reduced numbers take some of the pressure off the Vice President.”
Sandweg added, “The president maintained he didn’t have the legal authority to take action at the border, then took action at the border, right?” But the efforts this year have been “very effective” and getting Mexico to step up enforcement has probably been the most effective action from the Biden-Harris administration.
Sandweg further stated, “There are legitimate conversations that should be had in this election that people should consider. Why did it take so long to endorse a bipartisan bill?”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
