Coronavirus Doesn’t Affect Bernie’s Belief In Open Borders
March 10, 2020
David Krayden
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he would not close the borders over the escalating coronavirus outbreak.
The Democratic presidential candidate flatly said, “No,” when asked at a Fox News town hall broadcast.
Sanders continued that closing the borders is something “you don’t want to do right now,” claiming doing so would be in the spirit of a president “who has propagated a xenophobic, anti-immigrant sentiment from before he was elected,” Sanders said, attacking President Donald Trump.
But the senator could not provide an alternative, saying “What we need to do is have the scientists take a hard look at what we need to do.” He suggested we first have to examine the communities where the virus is spreading and ask why.
“It may mean self-quarantine, it may be not having public assemblies,” Sanders told the audience before quickly reiterating his belief that closing the border is “the same old thing. Isn’t it interesting that a president who has been demagoguing and demonizing immigrants, the first thing that he could think about is closing down the border?” Sanders asked, suggesting scientists need to develop coronavirus policy — not politicians.
Since Trump became president, Sanders has moved sharply to the left on immigration and border control issues. In early 2019, the Democratic socialist senator was still telling audiences that open borders would bring a preponderance of poor people to the United States, and “We can’t do it.”
Last month, at a town hall meeting, a voter called out Sanders on his open borders flip-flop and demanded to know why his position had changed.
Last week, the president signed an $8.3 billion spending bill to combat the disease.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/03/10/c...-open-borders/
