Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich found a pertinent video in which Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin — a harsh critic of President Donald Trump’s efforts to build a border wall — complained in 2006 because border fencing legislation that year did not cover enough of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Durbin was referring to the Secure Fence Act of 2006, it enjoyed strong bipartisan support and passed the House of Representatives with a 238-138 vote and the Senate with a 80-19 vote.
Back then there were 64 House and 25 Senate Democrats who voted for the legislation, including Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Barack Obama of Illinois, Joe Biden of Delaware and Dianne Feinstein of California.
The video shared by Pavlich displays the Democrats’ support. Obama argued in favor of the bill saying, “It will authorize some badly needed funding for better fences and better security along our borders that should help stem the tide of illegal immigration in this country.”
But Durbin decided to vote against the bill, arguing in part the fencing would be inadequate because it wouldn’t cover enough of the border.
“Our border is more than 2,000 miles long, and we are building 300 or 700 miles worth of fencing and barriers,” the senior senator from Illinois said.
“I would say that that leaves a lot of area uncovered,” he continued. “I guess it’s not a leap of the imagination to believe that people will find a way to go around this wall, around this fence, over or under it, it’s going to happen.”
Durbin, like most of his fellow Democrats, now opposes Trump’s push for funding for a border wall or barrier, saying the plan as “medieval.”
Durbin said in a statement following President Trump’s Oval Office address that the nation had heard a “desperate attempt by the President to gain support for his medieval border wall. It won’t work. Democrats support strong border security.”
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