Q&A – What Is Nikki Haley’s Border Plan & How Does It Compare to Trump’s?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: Today’s question was submitted via talkback asking about what Nikki Haley’s illegal immigration/border plan is.
Bottom Line: This question comes on the heels of yesterday’s Q&A which addressed what former President Donald Trump’s current border policy/plan is. Notably the plan is posted on his campaign website with the specific actions he intends to take upon becoming president once again. To quickly recap for those who might have missed it...The former President’s latest border plan includes reimplementing all of his previous border policies immediately upon becoming president along with a host of new initiatives aimed at dealing with problems that have resulted from the border crisis of the 3+ years of the Biden administration. The plan details 19 executive actions he intends to take (most Day 1 initiatives) in addition to working with congress to make certain actions law so that they wouldn’t be able to be undone through the executive action of a future president. Simply put, it’s the most comprehensive plan that’s been produced by a presidential candidate on any issue that I’ve ever seen. That’s perhaps not a surprise given that it’s the signature issue of a former President of the United States. As for Nikki Haley’s plan...
On Haley’s campaign website I clicked literally every link out of due diligence to insure I wasn’t missing anything. There isn’t a formal plan that's been presented on her site addressing illegal immigration/border issues. There are two references to related matters that are posted on her site. The first is Haley touting her record on the issue while Governor of South Carolina, which included a state law cracking down on illegal immigration which included E-Verify. She cites examples of fighting the lawsuits brought by the ACLU and Obama administration against South Carolina’s law which her administration successfully defeated. The other reference to the issue is a new campaign ad posted last week which is critical of both Presidents Biden and Trump over their border records (she accuses Trump of unfulfilled promises during his first term). It’s safe to say that there’s a significant contrast in the emphasis that’s placed on this issue between the two candidates for those seeking information about their policy positions. Now, with that said Haley has recently articulated positions on the border and illegal immigration on the campaign trail. I’ll breakdown what she’s said she would do if elected:
- Reinstating the Trump Administration's “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers
- Instituting a “catch and deport” policy for undocumented migrants
- Stronger enforcement on the southern border
- A national E-Verify program to prevent undocumented persons from being illegally hired
- Defunding Sanctuary Cities
- Increasing the number of border patrol agents
While there’s generally overlap with Trump’s positions with what Haley has stated she would do, and nowhere near the breadth and depth of policy change she’s proposing – at least as of now – there is one major policy proposal that’s different than what Trump has proposed. The implementation of a federal E-Verify program. Something Haley is familiar with having signed the law that brought it to her home state. There are currently only ten states with E-Verify laws in place: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah (Iowa may soon be an eleventh as they’re close to passing it in their current state legislative session). Even then, the thresholds vary by state as does enforcement. For example, in Florida the E-Verify mandate only applies to employers with 25 or more employees.
The key to understanding what Haley’s policy position on the creation of a federal E-Verify system would mean would come down to details that she’s yet to provide. With that said if there were an implementation of the federal government standard for all employers nationally it would have a profound impact – including in a state like Florida with 25-employee threshold. The federal government’s standard mandates that every prospective employee, including those working with federal contractors, be submitted through the E-Verify system. Again, it’s unclear if that’s her current position.
The results of today’s Super Tuesday elections may render this conversation effectively moot should Donald Trump run the table today – which is possible but not assured. It’s also not assured that there will still be a contested Republican primary for president two weeks from today when Florida’s Presidential Preference primary elections (along with many local elections) take place. Should she continue much further into this race by either outperforming expectations in the Republican primary process, or through a potential third-party bid (though she seemingly ruled that out when talking with Fox News on Monday), she’ll likely need to fine tune her policy positions with greater detail given that the issue of the border and illegal immigration have become a top campaign issue this cycle.