Exclusive: Border Wall Still Key to Immigration Bills, GOP Spokeswoman Says

• June 22, 2018

The wall promised by President Donald Trump at the southern border remains key to national security as Republican lawmakers debate two bills to reform the immigration system, top GOP spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, even as one immigration bill failed to pass Thursday and a vote on a more moderate proposal is scheduled for next week.

“I’m so proud of the president for being firm” on the wall, McEnany, the former CNN commentator who is national spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said during the interview last Friday at the Young Women’s Leadership Summit held in Dallas by the conservative, millennial-focused group Turning Point USA.

“He has said that any immigration deal, any DACA deal, needs to include border wall funding, and we’ve come a long way,” she said of Trump. “Now they’re working in the House on a bill that would include that border wall funding.”

After observing the effectiveness of federal immigration officials’ recent Operation Matador, which resulted in the capture of 274 members of the brutal MS-13 gang, she said, she believes a wall would make the U.S. safer.

“MS-13 is obviously a violent gang, but of those 274 who they got off the streets, 100 of them came to this country disguised as unaccompanied minors,” McEnany said.

In the on-camera interview, McEnany also talks about Trump’s negotiations with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the media’s mischaracterization of Trump’s support for women, and her own transition from CNN commentator to the Republican Party’s national spokeswoman. Watch the full interview above.

Katherine Rohloff | Intern

Katherine Rohloff is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.

Rachel del Guidice | Contributor

Rachel del Guidice works in communications and media in Washington, D.C. She previously was a congressional reporter and podcast host for The Daily Signal.

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