Trump Allies, in Haley’s Home State, Attack Her on Immigration

The former president’s campaign, forging ahead as South Carolina’s first-in-the-south primary approaches, is also taking aim at Democrat President Joe Biden.

COLUMBIA, S.C.—Allies of former President Donald Trump fired a series of volleys at his sole remaining GOP challenger, Nikki Haley, at a news conference today in her home state of South Carolina.

The “Team Trump” event, held Feb. 1 outside the statehouse in Columbia, featured remarks from five top elected officials in the state where Ms. Haley had served two terms as governor. She went on to become United Nations ambassador under President Trump.

As the Palmetto State’s Feb. 24 Republican primary approaches, his campaign has ramped up rhetoric against Ms. Haley. At the same time, campaign messaging has continued hammering his presumed Democrat opponent in the Nov. 5 general election, President Joe Biden.

The former president was polling just slightly ahead of President Biden in the RCP as of Feb. 1. With a margin of only 1.7 percent, President Trump is considered to be in a statistical tie with President Biden; most polls carry margins of error of around 3 to 4 percent.

President Trump’s campaign accuses both Ms. Haley and President Biden of “weakness” for their policies relating to illegal immigration. After taking office in 2021, President Biden halted construction of the U.S.–Mexico border wall. The Trump campaign asserts that Ms. Haley is opposed to reviving that project.

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“Haley has spoken out against a border wall has been critical of ending automatic birthright citizenship. She also opposed President Trump’s plan to use drones and planes to secure the southern border,” President Trump’s campaign said in a Feb. 1 statement.

The Epoch Times has sought comment from the Haley campaign. At last check, a spokeswoman said a response was still being prepared.

President Biden has asserted that Congress needs to grant him greater authority to shut down illegal border crossings. But President Trump maintains that, while he was in office, he was able to use executive orders to enforce existing laws. He questions why President Biden has not done the same.

On Thursday morning, pro-Trump forces lamented the fate of 3-year-old Madison Hines, calling her death an example of the senseless loss of life tied to the nation’s illegal immigration problem.

The little girl died last fall after an illegal immigrant crashed his vehicle into the one in which she was a passenger. Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, wrote on X that the driver was allegedly drunk, and “was deported under President Trump and returned under Joe Biden.”

As South Carolina State Rep. Stewart Jones told Madison’s story, spectators behind him held posters featuring her picture and advertising a website, LoveLikeMaddie.com.

Attorney General Alan Wilson wrapped up the program, saying: “Somewhere in South Carolina, somebody’s going about their business… This time next year, they won’t be here.”

That’s because people can easily become casualties of lax border-enforcement policies.

They succumb to overdoses of the deadly drug, fentanyl, that is often smuggled into the United States from Mexico, he said. Or perhaps, like Madison, fall victim to “a drunk driver who’s not here legally.” In other cases, they could be killed by gang members who entered the country illegally.

“And that is why policy matters. And that’s why who’s at the top and who’s in the White House matters,” Mr. Wilson said, adding, “Donald Trump is the only candidate that I have faith in that can get the job done. And that’s why we’re all here today to support his candidacy.”

Other speakers included South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftis and state Reps. Bill Taylor and Cal Forrest Jr.

Mr. Wilson said he hoped that after the South Carolina primary, everyone in the Republican Party will “get behind Donald Trump.”

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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