Rep. Duncan Hunter says Donald Trump is attracting voters who appreciate his attempt to finally do something about illegal immigration, even if Trump’s comments are aspirational and can’t realistically be achieved.
In an op-ed for USA Today, Hunter said that leaders in Washington have been “all talk and no action for too long” on immigration, which is why the issue has become a central theme for the campaign this year.
“There’s much appeal around rhetoric that promotes not just the enforcement of America’s borders, but also the enforcement of immigration laws,” he wrote in the op-ed. “And while the idea of deporting 11 million people is not within the scope of possibility, its what such a pronouncement signals that’s the true magnet.”
Hunter wrote that voters are “desperate” to hear a commitment to do something on immigration, and said many voters believe that preventing illegal immigrants from working in the country is the best way to stem the flow of people crossing into the U.S.
“So when a candidate like Donald Trump raises the prospect of building a wall on the border, or deporting 11 million people, millions of Americans are not necessarily voting for those things specifically,” Hunter wrote. “Rather, they’re voting for a commitment to do what the past two administrations have failed to do.”
“They’re voting for the idea that finally somebody is willing to enforce the law to the extent that the law requires,” he added.
Hunter is one of a handful of Republican lawmakers who have come out in support of Trump.
