Udall Statement on Trump Border Wall and Immigration Executive Orders

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tom Udall issued the following statement on President Trump's executive order calling for the construction of a wall on the Southern border and to block local protections for immigrants:

"As residents of a border state, New Mexicans know that border security is critically important to our national security. I support - and have voted for - hiring more Border Patrol agents and funding more security equipment and technology. Building a border wall isn't a new idea, and over and over again, the facts have shown that a wall along the entire border would be ineffective and outrageously expensive - over $16 million per mile, in some areas. One of the most difficult places to build a wall is the remote Bootheel region of New Mexico, which is so rugged, Border Patrol agents have told me that horses and ATVs are the best ways to patrol. The wall also would be a symbol that empowers anti-immigrant rhetoric, while disrupting our relationship with Mexico, New Mexico's number one trading partner. I urge President Trump to listen to the experts at DHS, who will tell him that what we desperately need is to invest in technology, better retention of Border Patrol agents, and other effective and more efficient ways to keep the border safe and secure."

Regarding President Trump's decision to block funds for sanctuary cities: "We should get violent criminals and drug dealers off the streets, no matter where they were born. But President Trump's executive order isn't guaranteed to do that at all. What it likely would do is interfere with local police, prevent local governments like Santa Fe and Doña Ana County from providing services that taxpayers depend on, and threaten millions of families. A more effective - and humane - approach would be to bring the country together and fix our broken immigration system once and for all. I have supported bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform for many years, and I will continue to support policies that will secure our border, find a path to legal status for the 11 million undocumented people living in the country today, and ensure employers can find legal workers."