Immigration continues to be an issue in Alabama’s 2020 U.S. Senate race between Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) and Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville.
A third party group previously released a television ad in the race reminding Alabama voters that Jones opposed funding a wall on the United States-Mexico border and that the senator voted to terminate President Donald Trump’s declaration that an emergency existed at the border.
The same group, “One Nation,” has also hit Jones in a separate ad for voting to continue federal funding for sanctuary cities.
In an interview with WERC’s JT Nysewander on Tuesday morning, Jones attacked President Donald Trump over immigration policy.
Jones claimed that Trump “hasn’t protected any borders.”
It should be noted that in Fiscal Year 2020, which ended Wednesday at midnight, U.S. Border Patrol agents made 345,267 apprehensions of individuals attempting to enter the country illegally across the southwestern border. This is down an incredible amount since FY 2019, when 851,508 apprehensions were completed on the U.S.-Mexico border. That was the year, of course, that Jones declared an emergency was not present at the border.
Under President Trump’s tenure thus far, 341 miles of new border wall has been constructed, as well as many existing portions of fencing being upgraded.
In the radio interview, Jones also seemingly voiced support for sanctuary cities.
“[F]olks needs to remember … that sanctuary cities have been around for a long, long time,” Alabama’s junior senator asserted. “They were here for every president.”
To be clear, sanctuary cities first started popping up in the 1980s in opposition to then-President Ronald Reagan.
“But an individual city is not going to matter in terms of the overall look at immigration,” Jones continued. “We have tried, I have tried, to advocate for strong immigration reform. That means bringing in legal documented immigrants to help with our economy, because every economist says you have to have a strong immigration system to grow the economy.”
“We have done things on the border to try to stop folks from coming in, including having the asylum seekers have their cases adjudicated quicker. That’s been Congress. Those have been things that were done. Instead, what President Trump has done is just talk about a wall. It’s just a political issue — a wall, a wall, a wall. You’re not going to build a 2,000 mile wall,” he added.
Tuberville on Wednesday interviewed on the same show, and the former Auburn University head football coach was asked to respond to Jones’ comments on immigration.
“I wonder if he’s ever been down there [to the border]? Go down there, Doug Jones, and look at this — and look at the mess that has been created in 47 years of Joe Biden,” Tuberville said. “Look at it. It is awful.”
“We’re losing jobs in the state of Alabama because of no wall,” he added. “They’re coming and bringing drugs. Our schools and our hospitals are full of people that shouldn’t be in this country. We love people, okay, but we’ve got to know who’s here. And we’ve got to curtail the flow.”
“It is absolutely a disaster, and Doug Jones needs to learn a little bit about immigration,” Tuberville concluded.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
