Roy Moore: ‘There’s no such thing as a Dreamer’

Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore argued during Thursday night’s GOP primary runoff debate that “there is no such thing as a Dreamer,” a term commonly used to refer to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“There’s no such thing as a ‘Dreamer.’ You know why? It was never passed by Congress,” Moore said during the debate against runoff opponent Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), referring to executive action taken by the Obama administration in 2012.

“DACA is wrong. ‘Dreamer’ is wrong. We need to look at vetting these people coming into our country, and pick people that are going to do something for our economy,” Moore said.

Moore referenced Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s push for “merit-based” immigration and pushed for the passage of the RAISE Act, a merit-based immigration bill that would halve the number of green cards given to foreign nationals and prioritize skilled immigration over family reunification.

{mosads}He also called for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a popular proposal among Trump supporters that both candidates are hoping to attract for support in the Senate race.

“Illegal aliens constitute a continuing threat to our country, that requires building a wall,” Moore said.

Moore and Strange are competing in a runoff for the Senate seat vacated when Sessions joined the Trump administration earlier this year. Moore currently holds a slight lead in polling over Strange, whom President Trump has endorsed and plans to stump with on Friday.

Sessions announced earlier this month that the administration would rescind DACA. Trump has since pushed for a deal with congressional Democrats for legislation providing protections for those affected by the program’s six-month phaseout.