Media ignore Democrats' full flip-flop on border wall

WASHINGTON – It's a simple question: You supported the border wall in 2006, so why not now?

Six key Democrats have entirely flip-flopped on the issue and the mainstream media have not bothered to ask them why.

WND asked each of them and did not receive a single response.

Six current Democratic U.S. senators, including the party's top leadership, all voted for the
Secure Fence Act Of 2006, the very law President Trump is now using as lawful authorization to build a wall on the country's border with Mexico.

They are:

Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Not only do they all oppose the wall now, they are vowing to stop a Republican bill in the works to fund its construction.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif

As the Republicans have 52 seats in the Senate, they need 8 Democrats to vote for funding the wall in order to avoid a filibuster.

If such influential Democratic leaders as Schumer, Feinstein, Wyden and Nelson were to support the wall now, as they did a decade ago, a successful filibuster would seem unlikely and the wall would be funded.

Feinstein said in 2006: "Democrats are solidly behind controlling the border, and we support the border fence."

But something drastic happened since 2006, whether it was a change of heart or change in politics.

Schumer said in November: "We're not going to help him (Trump) build his wall. We have a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that builds in much tougher border security and it had bipartisan support than he's ever called for."

On Wednesday, Wyden said: "The bottom line here is this is another divisive policy and it's another polarizing policy."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

CNN reported on Friday that senior Democratic leaders are privately confident "that most, if not, all of their members will join forces to try to block the (funding) plan."

Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Republicans are moving ahead with a $12 to 15 billion dollar bill to fund the wall.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer floated an idea on Thursday to pay for the wall with a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, but after that notion was criticized the president said it was just one of many options under consideration.

Trump has said Mexico will ultimately pay for the wall in one form or another, but the U.S. will have to provide the construction costs upfront.

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Republican leaders say GOP lawmakers are unified behind Trump in his quest to build the wall, including even proponents of so-called comprehensive immigration reform, which would have immediately installed amnesty for illegal immigrants while subordinating border security to an uncertain future.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told WND, "Clearly border security is at the top of the Republican conference’s list."

However, when WND asked some of the staunchest supporters of the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill (which passed in the Senate in 2013 but died in the House), they appeared to leave a little wiggle room.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Kevin Bishop, spokesman for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., told WND that the senator's "record is clear," that he wants 20,000 more Border Patrol agents, but only "more fencing in areas where fencing makes sense."

A spokesperson for Sen. Marco Rubio, R- Fla., provided a comment the senator made in Immokalee, Florida, earlier in the day, in which he said, "I’ve always believed we need a physical barrier. It helps to funnel traffic and it’s not just for people, it’s for drugs and everything else."

However, Rubio then added, "But at the same time, that alone isn’t going to solve the problem. In Florida, 70 percent of the people here illegally came on an airplane – they overstayed a visa. The wall isn’t going to address that. So a physical barrier on the border is a critical part of security, but that alone is not going to reach the outcome that we want to see."

WND asked the office of Sen John McCain, R-Ariz., if he still fully supports building the border wall, but did not receive a response.

In its inquiry, WND noted McCain had said, "Complete that dang fence" in a campaign ad during a touch reelection fight, but just a week ago he made comments that seemed to downplay the need for a wall.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

"I know what it takes to have border security," said McCain. "It’s a lot more than walls … it’s surveillance, it’s electronics, it’s interception teams, it’s a broad mosaic.”

However, while Republicans may quibble over details on a border wall, Democrats have made a complete U-turn.

It wasn't just the 6 senators above who voted for the wall in 2006. They were joined by those who became very top leaders of their party.

Perhaps equally remarkable is that mainstream media outlets have never seriously grilled top Democrats on why they so drastically changed positions.

These quotes show just how far left the Democrats have swung on the issue in the last decade.

The Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, not only voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, he lavished praise on it, saying the bill would provide “better fences and better security along our borders” and would “help stem some of the tide of illegal immigration in this country.”

Then, shortly after Trump became the GOP presidential nominee last July, Bloomberg reported, "President Barack Obama repeatedly derided Trump’s proposal to build a wall across the southern U.S. border."

Mexican President Nieto meeting with U.S. President Obama in 2013

"The benefit of a cooperative Mexico, and by the way a Mexico that has a healthy economy, a Mexico that can help us build stability and security in Central America; that’s going to do a lot more to solve any migration crisis or drug trafficking problem than a wall,' said Obama.

Then Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., also voted for the Secure Fence Act in 2006.

But, in January he said, "'The impulse to hunker down, shut the gates, build walls, and exit at this moment is precisely the wrong answer,' said Biden, adding, "It offers a false sense of security in an interconnected world."

Then Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., also voted for the wall in 2006.

But as a presidential candidate, Clinton derided the wall as a "fantasy."

During a presidential debate in March, a Univsion reporter asked the candidate why she supported a border wall a decade ago but opposed Trump's proposal.

"It's a big difference," Clinton said. "First of all, as I understand him, he's talking about a very tall wall, right?"

"A beautiful, tall wall," she added mockingly. "The most beautiful, tall, wall, better than the Great Wall of China, that would run the entire border, that he would somehow magically get the Mexican government to pay for. And, you know, it's just fantasy."

Clinton then seemed to suggest the some 700 miles of fence that was subsequently built along the approximately 20,000 mile border was sufficient.

"And, in fact, if [Trump] cared to know anything about what members of Congress like the senator (Bernie Sanders) and I have done, where it was necessary, we did support some fencing, where it was necessary, we did add border patrol agents."

Clinton also seemed to suggest, as Obama has done, that the southern border is already secure.

"We have done what by any fair estimate would have to conclude is a good job 'securing the border,' so let's get about the business of comprehensive immigration reform."

John Podesta

One key to the Democrats' about-face on the wall may be, as WND reported, is that they seem more than well-aware how increased illegal immigration helps their party at the polls.

That was evidenced in an email revealed by WikiLeaks in October, sent by Clinton campaign manager John Podesta on Feb. 3, 2015, indicating he is not troubled by voter fraud.

Podesta wrote, “On the picture ID, the one thing I have thought of in that space is that if you show up on Election Day with a drivers license with a picture, attest that you are a citizen, you have a right to vote in Federal elections.”

Additionally, as an editorial in Investors Business Daily observed: "A Rasmussen Reports poll earlier this year found that 53% of the Democratic Party supports letting illegals vote, even though it's against the law. It's pretty clear why."

"Leftist get-out-the-vote groups openly urge noncitizens to vote during election time, and the registration process is notoriously loose," Investors added.