Dems' 'open border' agenda an 'affront' to legal immigrants, says Trump campaign adviser
Cortes says Dems regularly 'conflate' illegal entry with legal immigration process
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Democrats' open border plans are an "affront" to legal immigrants, Trump campaign senior strategy adviser Steve Cortes said Thursday after the third day of the Democratic National Convention.
“The Democrats for the last three nights and really for the last few years have conflated illegal migration, people who break and enter into this country who are trespassers, they want to conflate them with legal migrants,” Cortes told “Fox & Friends First.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A day before Joe Biden is set to officially accept the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, and other party heavy hitters repeatedly emphasized a message on race and identity on the penultimate night of the convention.
Making history as the first Black woman on a major party national ticket, Harris sought to show she’s more than the designated attacker of Biden’s campaign.
During her speech, Harris showed flashes of the toughness she displayed as a former prosecutor and aggressive questioner on Capitol Hill. But her angle Wednesday seemed aimed more at broadly complementing arguments Biden was making well before Harris joined the ticket.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She excoriated President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic but noted that the virus has only exacerbated deeply rooted problems in America.
“While this virus touches us all, let’s be honest, it is not an equal opportunity offender. Black, Latino and Indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately,” she said. “This is not a coincidence. It is the effect of structural racism.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cortes said the idea that the United States would “regularize and normalize” illegal immigration is an “affront” to the country’s economic and national security and insulting to the people who enter the United States lawfully.
“People like my own father who have been legal immigrants to our country. It is often a difficult, lengthy, and expensive process to be a legal immigrant to the United States.”
Cortes said the Trump campaign rejects the notion that it is “anti-immigrant” but rather makes clear that it is against “open borders.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.