Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a candidate for president, argued Monday that immigration is not a “security issue” as she condemned President Trump for his “inhumane and intolerable” policies at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Immigration is not a security issue: It is an economic and a humanitarian, and a family issue,” Gillibrand said during an MSNBC town hall Monday evening.
“There is no such thing as an illegal human,” she said.
Last month Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border after Congress declined to approve the $5.7 billion he wanted to construct a barrier. The emergency declaration, which prompted a swift legal challenge from more than a dozen states, aims to move billions of dollars from the military construction budget to construct physical barriers on the border.
Both chambers of Congress passed resolutions to overturn the national emergency declaration, prompting Trump to issue the first veto of his administration to preserve the order. The odds are long for the House and Senate to come up with enough votes to override the veto.
Gillibrand also noted that families were separated under the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy last year to prosecute all illegal immigrants, and said that the U.S. has historically welcomed immigrants in its “best moments.”
“That is not what we are seeing from this president today,” she said.
Gillibrand’s position on immigration has evolved since she was elected to the House of Representatives for New York’s 20th Congressional District in 2006, which is located in upstate New York. Early on Gillibrand was against “amnesty for illegal immigrants” and voted to raise funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during her time in the House, but as a senator her views on the matter have evolved and has called for abolishing ICE.
Gillibrand is running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, going head-to-head with a large field of candidates, including fellow Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
