When Republican presidential candidates spoke about immigration and the border during last night's debate, they devoted little time to the very real ways immigrants benefit the country. Instead, they leaned into catastrophic rhetoric and harsh proposals.
"Every county in America is now a border county," claimed Sen. Tim Scott (R–S.C.). "Right now, Americans are not safe," said former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley during remarks about border crossings, proposing a "catch and deport" policy. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy went so far as to suggest a likely unconstitutional plan to end "birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants" here. "We want you here in this country to fill the 6 million vacant jobs we have, but only if you come here to follow the law," said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, failing to explain just how difficult it is for willing workers to immigrate here legally. Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence both nodded to the need to fix the broken immigration system, but they never got more specific than that.
