Former Utah Congressman and current Fox News personality Jason Chaffetz discussed the recent death of 7-year-old migrant girl Jakelin Maquin on Friday night’s Hannity program, saying the message we should take away from the tragedy is when migrants try to come to the U.S., they might die.
The girl died of dehydration and shock after she and her father were taken into custody by the Border Patrol. Chaffetz was speaking with Fox News contributor Richard Fowler and GOPAC Chairman David Avella about the tragedy and the looming government shutdown over funding for President Trump’s border wall.
Chaffetz: Pelosi thought the wall is immoral. Do you think it’s immoral?
Fowler: I think it’s ineffective
Chaffetz: Would you tear it down?
Fowler: There’s not a wall there currently.
Chaffetz: There’s a lot of wall…
Fowler: I think the fencing we currently have is fine. We live in 2018. We can have drones we can hire Border Patrol. There’s other things we can do to secure our border besides building a wall. This is what’s going to happen when you build a wall, people are going to get a higher ladder. And cross over it again. I think it’s ineffective to say we are going to have a wall that’s going to solve all our problems.
Chaffetz: We have only seconds remaining. What do you think the message should be and what is going to happen with a shutdown that is pending?
Avella: We need to know who is entering this country. The president and Congress need to focus on the fact that Americans want border security. It’s as simple as this. It’s a winning message for Republicans, it’s the right path for America, and to the last point I was making, we have these foreign dictators down in South America who are cozying up to Russia allowing jets to come in there and if we don’t think this is a major national security issue…
Chaffetz: Look, the sad reality is we have a 7-year-old girl who has died, and she should have never, ever made that journey. And that should be the message, don’t make this journey, it will kill you.
