By VICTORIA JONES
Talk Radio News Service
Asked at the Iowa State Fair Monday if he supports building a wall along the U.S. Mexican border, as Donald Trump has proposed, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) gave a quick “yes,” but declined to address whether he supports deporting children of parents in the country illegally.
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said on CNN that a wall or fence along parts of the border was conceivable, but “not the entire border. Doesn’t make any sense.” Likewise, Christie is opposed to making Mexico pay for the construction: “Makes no sense.” “And this is not negotiation of a real estate deal, OK. This is international diplomacy and it’s different.”
“The wall will work,” Trump said when he arrived by limo for jury duty in Manhattan and a passer-by at the courthouse asked about the idea. There weren’t enough trials in New York City Monday, and the jurors were all sent home in the afternoon.
Though he didn’t chime in specifically on Trump’s new proposal, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) supports allowing people in the country illegally who haven’t committed major crimes, who work and follow a course such as learning English and paying fines, to stay in the U.S.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), also at the fair, called Trump’s proposal “gibberish.” “You’re not going to get 11 million people and drive them back out of this country,” he said. “That’s just not practical. That’s going to kill the Republican Party.”
Though Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) supports building a wall, he, like Bush supports maintaining birthright citizenship and allowing a pathway to legal status. “They are a very important part of most of our communities. For the bulk of them, they are God-fearing, good, hardworking people, and they are a part of our country now.”
Carly Fiorina said of eliminating birthright citizenship: “It would take passing a constitutional amendment to get that changed. This is part of our 14th Amendment, and so honestly I think we should put all of our energies, all of our political will over finally getting the border secured and fixing the legal immigration system.”
In a late July Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 64% of Americans said they support either a path to permanent legal status or citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. According to the poll, a small majority of Republicans fall into the same category
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