Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders surprised many with praise for former President Donald Trump during an ABC News interview Sunday. He applauded Trump’s work on border security.
Sanders said Trump is doing something right by “cracking down on fentanyl” and working to make “our borders are stronger.” Host Jon Karl had asked what Sanders thought Trump was getting right in his second term.
“Is there anything you think Trump has done right?” Karl asked.
“I think cracking down on fentanyl, making sure our borders are stronger. Look, nobody thinks illegal immigration is appropriate,” Sanders replied.
Biden’s administration saw 8.5 million migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in his first four years. Net migration reached the fastest pace since at least 1850.
Trump promised to deport dangerous criminals who entered the U.S. illegally. In his first full month, border apprehensions dropped to historic lows. Last week, he used the Alien Enemies Act to deport nearly 300 suspected Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
Sanders clarified he doesn’t back Trump’s full immigration approach. “He wants to deport 20 million people who are in this country who are undocumented,” he said. “Well, you do that, you destroy the entire country.”
“Trump’s billionaire friends are not going to pick the crops in California that feed us. They’re not going to work in meatpacking houses,” Sanders added.
Sanders has shifted on immigration over the years. In 2020, he wanted to decriminalize illegal crossings and stop deportations—but still admitted mass immigration can hurt wages.
“But you don’t think that that exploitation results in lower wages for domestic workers?” Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times asked in Jan. 2020.
“Sure it does. Right now, we have people who are being exploited. If you’re undocumented, and you’re being paid five bucks an hour, why am I going to pay her $12 an hour?” Sanders replied.
He fully rejected open borders back in 2015. During an interview with Ezra Klein, Sanders made his stance clear.
“Open borders? No, that’s a Koch brothers proposal,” he said. “It would make everybody in America poorer — you’re doing away with the concept of a nation state, and I don’t think there’s any country in the world that believes in that.”