Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley once said that describing illegal migrants as "criminals" is "disrespectful."
During a panel discussion involving Republican governors at the Aspen Institute in July 2015, Haley, the daughter of parents who emigrated from India, was asked about the tone of conversation regarding the immigration debate.
Haley, former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor, said that people such as her parents, who constantly reminded her how "blessed" they were to live in the U.S., also "resent when people come here illegally."
"But let's keep in mind, these people that are wanting to come here, they want to come for a better life, too. They have kids, too. They have a heart, too," Haley said.
"So, we don't need to be disrespectful. We don't need to talk about them as criminals. They're not. They're families that want a better life and their desperate to get here."
Immediately before that, Haley said the U.S. is "a country of laws."
"That's what's made us strong, we have to always be a country of laws," she said. "So, it's incredibly frustrating for a lot of people when they see the illegal immigrants being able to come across. It really is astonishing that after all these years, D.C. can't figure out how to build a wall. It really is, after all of what they spend."
Haley has been battling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to emerge as the top contender to former President Donald Trump, the current clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
During her current campaign, Haley has promoted a "catch and deport" stance and a return to the "Remain in Mexico" policy for the migrant crisis, as she posted on X early last month.
"What we need to do is when you catch them, you deport them back from where they came," Haley told Breitbart News last year.
"You can't allow them in this country. My parents always said, 'If someone doesn't follow the law to come into this country, they won't follow the law when they get into this country.' We have got to stop the bleeding," she said.
The pro-Trump PAC Make America Great Again Inc. has called out Haley's 2015 remarks at the Aspen Institute in an email to potential donors and supporters.
"Nikki Haley has always been tough on illegal immigration. She passed one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration bills in the country in 2011 when Trump was still a Democrat," Haley spokesperson AnnMarie Graham-Barnes told Newsmax via email.
"She has also said she has a different style and approach from Trump and doesn’t always agree with his incendiary language. Trump should spend more time explaining why he never fulfilled his signature promise to build a wall instead of desperately trying to mislead voters with lies."
The RealClearPolitics polling average on Thursday showed Trump (62.7%) with a 51.7 point lead on Haley (11%), with DeSantis (10.9%) right behind her.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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