Federation for American Immigration Reform
Published on May 22, 2017
In 2006, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, and others supported the Secure Fence Act of 2006. This bill called for hundreds of miles of fencing to separate the U.S.-Mexico border. Now the…
Federation for American Immigration Reform
Published on May 22, 2017
In 2006, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, and others supported the Secure Fence Act of 2006. This bill called for hundreds of miles of fencing to separate the U.S.-Mexico border. Now they oppose Trump’s proposed border wall.
"The bill before us will certainly do some good, it will authorize some badly needed funding for better fences and better security along our borders and that should help stem some of the tide of illegal immigration in this country" Obama stated in 2006 referring to the Secure Fence Act.
This shows that Senator Schumer and former President Obama have a history of supporting stronger border security. Although the left has called Donald Trump's immigration plan extreme, history dictates that the end goal of securing our borders crosses party lines. Immigration reform is important to all Americans because illegal immigration poses a serious threat to our citizens. Measures like building a wall along the southern border of the United States have become necessary due to the negative impact of increased illegal immigration.
In a 2009 speech at the Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, Chuck Schumer stated:
"Illegal immigration is wrong and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration. Second, operational control of our borders through significant additional increases in infrastructure, technology and border personnel must be achieved.."
It is clear that Senator Schumer has advocated for increased border security in the past, yet sometime between 2009 and 2016 his opinion on the subject must have changed. When asked to negotiate the building of the wall with President Trump, Schumer responded "It's not a negotiation, no wall". However, building a border wall would be a great solution to the problems outlined in Schumer's 2009 speech as it would prevent future potential illegal aliens from entering at the southern border. With a strengthened border in the south, focuses could shift to other means of illegal entry to the United States.
