(Largely this is because - as I noted to PolitiFact - information on exactly what either candidate supports today is lacking, particularly in Clinton's case.) PolitiFact didn't make much of an attempt to do so. And in his phrasing, Trump seemed to equate the two.īut if one is to make this type of an argument, one must compare the proposed walls either by type or mileage. PolitiFact concluded:īut the fence Clinton backed is not nearly as expansive as the wall Trump is promoting. They argued that since his is bigger than what Clinton has proposed in the past, it's only half true to claim that Clinton once wanted a wall. PolitiFact argued that Trump was equating Hillary's fence with his own proposed fence. Does she think our borders are secure enough in their current condition? This would be a great question for the media to ask her.īut PolitiFact could only conclude that it's "half true" that Clinton "wanted a wall a number of years ago," as Trump noted. On the other hand, it's possible that Clinton now supports open borders. Necessarily, that would be more than the barbed wire fencing and vehicular barriers currently on parts of our border that do little to stop illegal immigrants. Does she still support physical barriers, and if so, how does she define them? Apparently the barriers she's envisioning would be strong enough, tall enough, wide enough, and deep enough "to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in" since that's her metric in the November speech. For whatever reason, Clinton seems unable to take a clear position. Since then her talk of building "bridges, not walls" leaves one wondering what Clinton's current position is on border security. It's clear that at one point Clinton supported a secure border that includes physical barriers and she spoke about it as recently as November of last year. Perhaps this is why Clinton has stopped talking about her past and is instead busily repeating her claim that she's for building "bridges, not walls." It was noted by some that Bernie Sanders (then still in the House) voted against the 2006 border security bill. We need to secure our borders, I'm for it, I voted for it, I believe in it, and we also need to deal with the families, the workers who are here, who have made contributions, and their children.Ĭlinton's stance on border security has raised some eyebrows within her generally open-border coalition of supporters. And I do think you have to control your borders. ![]() Well look, I voted numerous times when I was a Senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in. In October 2006, Clinton gave a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in which she called for an amnesty, but also said the United States must "Secure our borders with technology, personnel, physical barriers if necessary in some places and we need to have tougher employer sanctions." On illegal aliens, Clinton said: "If they've committed transgressions of whatever kind, they should be obviously deported."Īnd I alerted PolitiFact to a speech Clinton gave at a high school in Windham, N.H., in November last year in which she comes across as a border security enthusiast. It sure sounds like "she wanted a wall," to quote Trump.īut I gave PolitiFact more research. After it was signed into law, however, an amendment gave much more discretion to DHS to decide where and if it wanted to construct fencing, rendering the act much less effective. The Secure Fence Act would have created 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border and required that DHS "shall provide for least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors" along a number of specific stretches. I also explained that it required "operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States" and operational control was defined as: "the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband." (Emphasis added.) I explained that as a senator, Clinton voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006 which required, among other things, "physical infrastructure enhancements to prevent unlawful entry by aliens into the United States".
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