On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that while he is “deeply troubled” by the Trump administration’s approach on immigration, “we don’t have the credibility that we need on issues like immigration” and, under the Biden administration Democrats “failed and we failed because we followed the far-left’s policies on don’t deport anybody, open up the borders for many more asylum seekers without being concerned about the volume.”
Smith began by saying, “My party needs to re-establish our credibility on a number of issues. It’s not going to be enough — even if it is strategic and tactical and smart — to criticize what Donald Trump does. We have to do that and we have to do it intelligently. It’s just not going to be enough, because we don’t have the credibility that we need on issues like immigration, like DEI, dealing with racism and discrimination, like the economy. I think we need to spend more time re-establishing our own credibility, not just bashing on what Trump does.”
After host Chris Cuomo said that he agrees with this sentiment if it’s applied to people like Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), but not Smith himself, Smith agreed.
Later, Smith added, “We shouldn’t support deporting every single undocumented immigrant in the United States of America. We shouldn’t support, as he’s done now, blocking already approved refugees from coming into the U.S., also, by the way, we have refugees who have been resettled in the U.S., qualified for the refugee program, and the Trump administration has cut off the funds for that now, has cut off the funds for the refugees who are actually here. Now, I think if Republicans want to have a conversation, we need more border security. We need a secure border.”
He continued, “And we need to admit, on my side, the Biden administration didn’t do that, at least not until the last six to eight months. We failed and we failed because we followed the far-left’s policies on don’t deport anybody, open up the borders for many more asylum seekers without being concerned about the volume. I think we need to be honest with the American people, we screwed up, and we are going to re-establish our credibility and have a sensible approach. But I think you would agree, when you look at the initial steps that the Trump administration has taken, you can be a reasonable Democrat like me and still be deeply troubled by the approach that the Trump administration is taking on immigration.”
Cuomo then said, “[W]e’ll leave it here for now, and let’s see how these operations go and I’ll invite you back on a regular basis to discuss the state of play. I just think Democrats don’t have the high ground to criticize the attempt when it’s necessary because of what wasn’t done during the Biden administration, who they wind up grabbing, do they grab the wrong people, or are they all people who’ve been accused of serious crimes, time will tell, and then you have an opportunity to scrutinize and you’ll be invited here to do that.”
Smith responded, “We lack credibility on the issue, no question. And we have to re-establish that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
