by John Binder
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), now running in the Republican presidential primary, previously said Americans should not describe illegal aliens “as criminals,” suggesting that doing so is “disrespectful.”
In July 2015, a month after then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump announced his candidacy with a speech centered on stemming illegal immigration, Haley joined a panel with the Aspen Institute moderated by then-CEO Walter Isaacson.
Isaacson, in his final question, asked Haley “As a family of immigrants from India, how does that inform your thinking on the immigration debate and what do you feel about the tone of the immigration debate as it has recently turned?”
Haley, in response, said that while Americans are rightfully frustrated with illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border, she urged the audience not to use language like “criminals” to describe illegal aliens because “they’re not.” She said:
So I think that what we have to remember and what I’ve always believed is that we’re a country of laws. That is what’s made us strong so it’s incredibly frustrating for a lot of people when they see the illegal immigrants being able to come across. It really is astonishing that after all these years, D.C. can’t figure out how to build a wall. It really is, after all of what they spend.