Former Georgia state legislator Stacey Abrams took aim at President Trump’s immigration policies in the Democratic response to his State of the Union address.
Directly countering Trump’s demand during his speech for a wall along the southern border, Abrams argued that even the Republican most revered in the modern day GOP, Ronald Reagan, would have opposed Trump’s policies.
“We know bipartisanship could craft a 21st century immigration plan, but this administration chooses to cage children and tear families apart. Compassionate treatment at the border is not the same as open borders. President Reagan understood this. President Obama understood this. Americans understand this,” Abrams said.
She said that Democrats are willing to secure the border but urged Trump to understand that “America is made stronger by the presence of immigrants, not walls.”
Abrams also needled Trump for the recent government shutdown, saying that the President and his demand for wall funding caused thousands federal work to go without pay.
“Making livelihoods of our federal workers a pawn for political games is a disgrace. The shutdown was a stunt, engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people but our values,” she said.
She concluded her speech by urging Trump to tell the truth.
“So even as I am very disappointed by the President’s approach to our problems, I still don’t want him to fail. But we need him to tell the truth and to respect his duties and respect the extraordinary diversity that defines America,” Abrams said.
