On immigration, Trump will have a mountain to climb

Jun 19, 2024

Newt Gingrich Former House Speaker; Chairman of Gingrich 360

By Straight Arrow News

President Biden, responding to a recent uptick in “the entry of certain noncitizens at the southern border,” has restricted asylum eligibility and increased the consequences for individuals caught illegally crossing the border. Those measures prompted liberal advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to file lawsuits against the Biden administration. Biden’s stricter immigration policies follow a record-high number of U.S. Border Patrol encounters in 2023. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a drop in these numbers following the new policies.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich warns of the security risks that he says accompany these waves of immigrants, and how Donald Trump — if he wins in November — will have a lot of work to do to address those risks.

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The following is an excerpt of the above video:

And the result has been that people have learned that you can get into the U.S. And they’re coming from everywhere. I think last year, we had 26,000 Chinese enter the U.S. illegally. We have people literally from almost every country in the world. And Gallup, through its world poll, indicates that there are maybe 100-150 million people who would like to come to the United States.

So if President Trump wins, he will be faced with a country in which there are millions of people who are here illegally, a number of whom are criminals. As he has pointed out, the crime rate in Venezuela has dropped dramatically, because the criminals are now in New York City, where they have shot policemen, they have robbed people, they’ve been a serious problem. So the fact is that we are faced with a real crisis, not just a closing of the border.

But what do you do about the millions of people who are already in United States illegally, a number of whom are criminals or have criminal records, a number of whom we frankly don’t know whether they’re terrorists or agents of foreign powers?

It’s fascinating that people are beginning to realize that there is a real parallel between how President Eisenhower dealt with illegal immigration and the challenges facing President Trump. If he wins re election, and has millions and millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, President Eisenhower had been a military man, the five star general, he believed in rules. He believed in the rule of law. And in his mind, if somebody came across the border illegally, they had broken the law and they were a criminal. He saw no reason why criminals should be allowed to remain in United States. So he enforced a very tough policy of in a very effective, very organized way, moving people back out of the country, if they had no legal right to be here. President Trump has faced I think, with a much bigger problem, because of President Biden’s open border policy. And because the world has changed, you can travel all over the planet much faster. information goes around the world instantaneously. And the result has been people have learned that you can get into the US. And they’re coming from everywhere. I think last year, we had 26,000. Chinese to enter the US illegally. We have people literally from almost every country in the world. And Gallup through its world poll indicates that there are maybe 100 250 million people who would like to come to United States. So if President Trump wins, he will be faced with a country in which there are millions of people who are here illegally, a number of whom are criminals. As he has pointed out, the crime rate in Venezuela has dropped dramatically. Because the criminals are now in New York City where they have shot policemen. They have robbed people, they’ve been a serious problem. So the fact is that we are faced with a real crisis, not just a closing the border. But what do you do about the millions of people who are already in United States illegally, a number of whom are criminals or have criminal records, a number of whom, we frankly don’t know whether they’re terrorists, or agents of foreign powers. And I think some kind of methodical thought through organized effort not just to control the world. But to repair the damage done by four years of Biden’s open border is going to be unavoidable. I feel this pretty strongly, because the last major immigrant reform I helped vote for and I helped get it through. And Ronald Reagan signed it. And in his diary, he says that he signed it, because we have to control the border. And we have to get to some kind of verifiable employment identity system. The fact is, we agreed to amnesty for what we thought were going to be 300,000 people, they turned out to be 3 million. And at the same time, we found ourselves faced with neither of the promises being made. Congress didn’t close the border, and Congress didn’t establish an enforceable employee verification system. So President Trump has a big mountain to climb.