Vice President Pence on Monday said the migrant caravans streaming towards the U.S. are nothing less than an assault and that they will not be allowed to overwhelm the Southern Border.
“You know, it’s never been more clear to Americans about the need for more border security, has it? We all watch the news. We all see this — another migrant caravan headed north,” Pence said at a rally in Michigan Monday night.
“As President Trump made clear, this is nothing short of an assault on our country and we will not allow it.”
{mosads}Pence lauded the Pentagon’s deployment of 5,200 troops to help support border patrol at the president’s direction.
Pence said the closest caravan is only leading its occupants into danger and hardship.
“This caravan was organized by leftist groups in Honduras and human traffickers who have no regard for human life,” Pence said, adding that the Guatemalan president informed him that the caravan abandoned “the elderly and the infirm and vulnerable children” on the side of the road until Guatemala sent buses to help.
“The truth is these human traffickers and organizations take advantage of loopholes in our laws to entice vulnerable families in the vain hope that they can come north and take the long and dangerous journey to come into our country illegally,” Pence said.
He argued that the Democrats’ “dangerous policies” are to blame.
“[T]he Democrats don’t want to build a wall, they don’t want to secure our border, they don’t want to close those loopholes that human traffickers use to entice vulnerable families,” he said, noting that several prominent Democrats have voiced a desire to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent months.
He urged Michigan voters to back Republicans, saying if they do, “I’ll promise you, we’ll secure our border. We’ll build a wall. We’ll close the loopholes and fix this broken immigration system once and for all.”
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) is leading her Republican opponent by an average of 9.7 points according to RealClearPolitics, and in the race for governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer holds an 8.2-point lead over Republican Bill Schuette in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
President Trump won the state by less than 1 percentage point in 2016.