Ky. governor: Trump’s anti-immigrant language is ‘dangerous
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Republican Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant language in his quest to win back the White House is dangerous and dehumanizing, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday, warning that the rhetoric makes it more difficult for Congress to reach a meaningful U.S. border security deal.
Beshear — whose resounding reelection last month in solidly Republican Kentucky raised his national profile — said a balanced approach is needed on immigration: one that protects the nation’s borders but recognizes the role legal immigration plays in meeting business employment needs.
The governor has largely refrained from openly criticizing Trump, who remains popular in Kentucky, during his tenure and has repeatedly declared “a strong national security requires strong border security.” Beshear also authorized the deployment of Kentucky National Guard soldiers to the nation’s southern border during his first term.
But in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Beshear pointedly criticized Trump’s recent anti-immigrant remarks, in which the former president and current GOP presidential front-runner for 2024 talked about “blood” purity, echoing Nazi slogans of World War II.
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump said about the influx of immigrants coming to the U.S. without immediate legal status, drawing on words similar to Adolf Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf.”
Asked to respond Tuesday, Beshear said: “I think the rhetoric is dangerous and it’s uncalled for. We can have strong opinions on illegal immigration. It is illegal first and our laws have to be protected, and we have to come together and do better about finding a long-term solution.”
“But those are still people, and we shouldn’t dehumanize human beings,” he added. “We should be able to talk about even the toughest issues without talking about them that way. That’s the only way, in the end, that Democrats and Republicans are going to be able to reach a viable solution that stops the flow of illegal immigration, that fills the jobs where we need immigration.”
In Washington, White House and Senate negotiators have been trying to reach a border security deal being demanded by Republicans in Congress to unlock President Joe Biden’s request for military aid for Ukraine and other national security needs.
A comprehensive immigration deal should include language offering a path toward citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, Beshear said, adding: “Now what that path looks like would require people come together and figure it out.”