CNBC “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernen asked Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) on Monday whether Democrats’ shift toward leniency on illegal immigration in recent years was a tactic to gain voters.
Commentators are sharply divided over ICE deportation raids launched since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. While some critics condemn the deportation of otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants, others are replying that such “mass deportations” were not only Trump’s flagship promise, but were a norm among past Democratic administrations.
“Now, I know Trump has deported or sent back 350-400,000 people. Barack Obama, ‘your guy,’ as you called Trump, ‘my guy,’ it was 5 million. It was 5 million over eight years,” Kernen told Warner. “Now we’re at 350,000. What changed with Democrats on that? I know Biden let in 12 million. Is it about votes? Why isn’t it a crime to be here, not that they haven’t committed a crime?”
“The border being as open as it was under Biden was one of the reasons Trump got elected,” Warner said. When asked whether he was indeed glad it is closed now, Warner replied, “Do I think we ought to not have a fully open border? Absolutely. I’ve said that all along.”
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When asked what to do about the millions who entered the country under Biden, Warner contrasted the idea of closing the border versus “sending out ICE agents across the country to randomly pick up people based on quotas that have committed no crime.”
Kernen was unmoved, asking how Obama deported five million during his eight years in office. They both then agreed that much of Obama’s high deportation numbers were driven by rejecting people at the southern border.
“The truth is, I don’t think the American people signed up for this,” Warner said, later arguing, “There ought to be a path towards legality.”
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“Senator, at this point, there’s 12 million people that are not supposed to be here. Why did that [happen]? Why was the border open? You said, ‘Oh, it shouldn’t have been, and you kind of punt on it – “
“It was for decades, under Bush, Obama – ” Warner began.
“Nothing like during the Biden administration, obviously. Why? What was the rationale for that?” Kernen asked. “I have seen a lot of your comments about ‘people didn’t vote for this.’ I don’t think… Obviously, Democrats didn’t have a good idea what people were voting for, or you wouldn’t have lost the presidency in seven swing states in the Senate and the House. So you don’t know what people are voting for. They were voting for this!”
“And we’ll see what happens in ’26,” Warner replied, citing a variety of other issues.
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