On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) stated that in order to convince people to support Ukraine funding “Democrats have to come to grips that we have to close that border down.” And urged President Joe Biden to declare a national emergency the way former President Trump did “and shut it down tight.” Manchin also stated that “asylum basically should be put on hiatus for six months or so until we can get an immigration policy that works for our country and also gives people the chance to come here the right way to take care of themselves and their family.”
Manchin said, “We’re going to support Ukraine. I can tell you that there’s overwhelming support within Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and I know the same feeling’s in the House. What happens though, they’re scared to come out against that because they’re seeing some pressure from the top leader, whether it be Trump or whoever that’s thinking, well, that’s not the right thing, we should be taking care of ourselves.”
He continued, “So, let me just say this: The Democrats have to come to grips that we have to close that border down. We have got to have border security. And I would implore the President and his administration to call a national emergency on the border. We have a crisis. And this asylum basically should be put on hiatus for six months or so until we can get an immigration policy that works for our country and also gives people the chance to come here the right way to take care of themselves and their family. But you’ve got to recognize that. You just can’t say, well, we’re blind to that and this is everything. But Ukraine is pay me now or pay me later. … It’s the best investment that we can make to get world peace.”
Later, he added, “They’re trying everything. I know [Alejandro] Mayorkas is good people. I know him and I work with him. But the administration, the President has to say enough is enough. And what Trump did, he basically declared a state of emergency.” Manchin added that he’d have Biden do the same “in a heartbeat and shut it down tight.”
Manchin further stated that you have to have more funding for the border because you’ll need more personnel to secure it, “and you have to build the wall. There [are] areas we need the wall, and there [are] areas we need technology. But we need more agents down there.”
Manchin added that under our asylum system, “you just put one foot on our soil and you have all these rights. And people are sick and tired of seeing, they’re getting hotel rooms, they’re getting this, they’re getting that. They’re overrunning their school districts and things of this sort.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
