10 reactions to Trump's border security address to the nation

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Wednesday, January 09, 2019

Frank Gaffney

Frank Gaffney, founder of the conservative Center for Security Policy and a nationally syndicated radio host, claimed in a statement that Trump is simply “fulfilling” his oath of office by “standing firm for a secure border.”

As Democrats and critics of Trump’s border wall demand, like Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have claimed, that humanitarian crisis at the southern border is a “manufactured crisis,” Gaffney compared such an argument to the Marx brothers quote “who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”

“Fortunately, recent polling makes clear that the vast majority of the American people — including overwhelming numbers of Democrats — perceive that illegal immigration is a real crisis,” he claimed in an op-ed, without citing which poll he was referring to.

“That’s because we see that such immigration is accompanied by increased crime, drug- and human-trafficking, sexual and other abuse and, yes, the threat of terrorism,” he added. “As a result, we recognize that public safety and national security are being endangered by drug overdoses, gang violence, murder and mayhem – often on a very large scale.”

A Politico/Morning Consult poll of over 1,989 registered voters released Tuesday found that just 42 percent of Americans perceive there to be a crisis at the border. Meanwhile, another 37 percent said that they believe there is a problem at the border but that problem doesn’t rise to the severity of which the president has described.