TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Candidate for U.S. Senate Kari Lake has been vocal about her stance on the border for years, saying the U.S. needs to be tougher when it comes to people crossing into America illegally.
Independent U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema recently introduced a bill that would change protocols when it comes to migrants crossing illegally. The bill is also part of a package that would give aid to foreign wars in Ukraine and Israel.
However, Lake feels like the bill does not address Americans’ needs. Lake feels as if the money that is proposed to go abroad could be put into funding pay raises for border patrol and teachers.
“The people in Washington D.C. are so tone deaf, so out of touch with the American people, that they think at this time while we’re dealing with the biggest invasion we’ve ever had in our country, that they should be funding foreign wars. It’s a slap in the face to the people of Arizona,” Lake said.
The bill would also suspend asylum screenings temporarily if border crossings went over 5 thousand people a day.
Lake said she doesn’t want any people crossing illegally. She said if elected she would hire more judges and add make shift courts along the border to process people who are claiming asylum.
Lake criticized Biden and his administration’s move to fund migrants’ stay with federal money until judges decide on their asylum claim.
“Their travel, where they stay, their housing…all of that and they don’t want to solve the real problem which is the wide open border. We need to stop people from coming over and that will solve all these problems. We won’t have to pour our tax dollars into things we shouldn’t be,” she said.
Lake believes former President Trump’s stance on the border is a move that should be brought back, including rebuilding the border wall. She said she would put $20 billion into restoring and rebuilding the wall if she were to be elected.
She said the bill needs to go back to the drawing board in order to tackle what she calls the “invasion at the border”.
Ruben Gallego, Lake’s Democratic opponent in the Senate race, says he is proud that funding for the Shelter and Services Program is included in the bill.
The Shelter and Services program, which Gallego says he hopes to reform, would explicitly state that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be in control of decisions regarding migrant releases, if the bill passed.
“Arizona and its border communities have faced unprecedented challenges to manage the humanitarian and national security crises at our southern border. Now, Congress has a chance to act,” Gallego’s statement said on his website.
