On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser Van Jones and columnist and author Ann Coulter sparred over the failed Senate border bill and the U.S. immigration system.
After host Bill Maher argued that Democrats have turned the immigration issue around on Republicans, Jones said, “Look, it turns out there is a conspiracy to keep the border open, to flood the country with undocumented people, and it’s led by Donald Trump and the Republican Party, because, down there, open border. They had the opportunity to close it.” Later on, Jones stated, “It is now the Republicans’ open border.”
Coulter countered that the Senate bill was a bad bill and Democrats don’t really care about the issue and cited President Joe Biden’s handling of the razor wire put up by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) while arguing that Biden has the power to act now.
Maher acknowledged that there are things Biden can do through executive action, but not other things, and argued that the bill at least moved in the right direction, even if it’s not everything Coulter wanted. Later on in the segment, Jones argued that asylum laws are passed by Congress and need a congressional fix.
The debate then pivoted to the immigration system and immigration writ large, during which Maher and Jones debated how good immigration is for the U.S. under the current system.
Coulter responded by stating that claims that higher immigration levels help the economy are misleading because higher levels of immigration just drive GDP up by virtue of the fact that there are more people in the country, but that doesn’t really help anyone.
Jones said that the U.S. is able to outperform the rest of the world because top talent from other countries comes to the U.S. and cited the benefits derived from past waves of immigration. Coulter responded that the dynamic is different due to increases in welfare since then.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
