Democrats in tight races support border bill despite past opposition to stricter asylum rules and border wall money

CNN — Democrats were roundly united against former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. A Rosen campaign spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that Rosen has “consistently fought for commonsense and bipartisan reforms to secure the border, fix our broken immigration system and keep our communities safe.” A spokesperson for Brown said that he, too, supported an opportunity for bipartisan reform at the border, and pointed to comments Brown made in May 2023: “I don’t think you can get something comprehensive now, under the pressure of what’s happening at the border,” referring to his support for extending Title 42, adding, “we need to send more resources to the border” and needed more time to “get this right.” The decision by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to hold a second vote on the bipartisan border security bill was widely seen as a political exercise designed to force Republican senators to vote again on a measure they’d already killed in February, at the behest of Trump. While running for the Senate in 2006, amidst a different immigration crisis, Tester said during a debate, “It’s not secure in the least … But in the end, if we’re focused on this – I am not in favor of by the way building a fence or a wall or anything else like that.” At one point during the Trump administration, Tester acknowledged that “there are some places where a wall does make sense.” But Tester also has a history of mocking the wall as “ineffective and wasteful” and as a “Medieval border wall” that was not technologically advanced. In January 2019, Tester spoke out against Trump’s border wall along the entire US-Mexico border, saying, “I will tell you unequivocally, a wall from sea to shining sea is not the right direction to go.” Tester’s campaign pointed to 14 votes he cast since 2007 to secure funding for border fences, barriers and walls. Recently, Tester’s campaign used prominent images of the border wall in an ad to illustrate his commitment to “securing the border.” A Tester campaign spokesperson told CNN, “Senator Tester has been a vocal and consistent supporter of border security and Montana’s brave law enforcement officers since the beginning of his time in office—including voting for border wall funding and opposing President Biden’s border policies.” The Democrats’ tonal shift on immigration and the border is also reflected by what wasn’t in the bill, specifically a pathway to citizenship.