In an interview Sunday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding cannot end as long as the “radical left” insists on reflexively calling Republicans racist for supporting immigration officials.
Democrats who want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deride Border Patrol agents for using tear gas hold too much power in the ongoing shutdown negotiations, Graham said.
His comments came as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in an appearance on CBS’ “Sunday Morning,” charged that the “impression you get from the president [is] that he would like to not only close government, build a wall, but also abolish Congress so the only voice that mattered was his own.”
“We’re having to negotiate with people who want to abolish ICE, not support ICE,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “We’re having to negotiate with people who see border patrol agents gassing children, rather than defending our borders as professional law enforcement officers.”
He continued: “And we’re negotiating with people who will accuse all of us who support a wall as part of border security as racists. As long as the radical left is in charge, we’re not going to get anywhere. … The goal is to fix a broken immigration system, to bring reality to this table.”