Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) called for securing the U.S. southern border, pointing out that the American Dream is hard to reach with 300,000 illegal migrants attempting to get into the country.
Fetterman, who has received criticism regarding his support for Israel in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, and for defending talks about securing the U.S.-Mexico border, told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview he didn’t “understand why it’s controversial” to call for securing the border.
“I honestly don’t understand. I don’t understand why it’s controversial to anyone to decide that you’re going to stand with Israel in this situation,” Fetterman told Tapper in response to a question about why he thought he was receiving a lot of criticism. “I honestly don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border.”
FETTERMAN: “I don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border. We want to provide the American dream for any migrant, but it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up at our border to do that.”
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“I’ve been very clear, in fact that was weaponized against me as Republicans in my race, that I’m very much a strong supporter of immigration, and you know, my wife’s family, that’s the origin story about that,” Fetterman added.
Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, was reportedly a Dreamer who had immigrated to the U.S. when she was 7, and later became a U.S. citizen in 2009.
Dreamers are undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, lived and attended school here, and, in many cases, identify as American.
In a campaign video, Fetterman opened up about his wife’s family history, noting that he was “proud” of her origin story and “grateful for the sacrifices that her mother made.”
“I think two things can be true at the same time,” Fetterman added. “You can be very supportive of immigration, but we also need to have a secure border. And, I really, I think about immigration as we want to provide the American Dream for any migrant, but it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up, encountered at our border to do that.”
In December, U.S. Border Patrol officials revealed they were on track to process more than 300,000 illegal immigrants, according to CBS News.
Fetterman added that a “reset” of immigration policies was needed and that lawmakers needed to “work together” in order to “develop a new comprehensive solution” to address the ongoing immigration crisis.