“James Lankford is Strong on the Border, Tough on Crime, and Very Smart on the Economy,” wrote former President Trump on September 27, 2022.
“James was strongly committed to America First, and everything it stood for, and likewise strongly committed to me, as President,” Trump added in his endorsement for Lankford.
Trump concluded that it was his great honor to give “James Lankford my complete and total endorsement.”
📄NEW: Former President #Trump endorses Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford.
Trump: “Sometimes we didn’t exactly agree on everything, but we do now.” @OKCFOX #Election2022 pic.twitter.com/C7GIKqJ6AL
— Dan Snyder (@DanSnyderTV) September 27, 2022
The endorsement came after Lankford defeated Republican challengers Jackson Lahmeyer and Joan Farr in the GOP primary, winning 67.8% of the vote.
Lankford is the lead senator behind the Senate border security bill that House Speaker Johnson has said won’t see the light of day in the House.
Lankford attacked Senator Mike Lee who bashed the bill and said that there is nothing wrong with it just don’t go on Facebook.
“He needs three weeks to be able to read it, but he’s already opposed to it. So again, people have to be able to read it and go through it themselves. Don’t just go off of Facebook post somewhere on what the bill says,” Lankford said.
Here’s what conservatives found buried in the bill:
- Five thousand illegals per day, or 1.8 million per year, are allowed entry before an emergency can be declared.
- Work permits will be issued to illegals.
- The federal courts in DC have original and appellate authority, meaning federal courts in Texas can’t hear cases about the bill.
- The emergency can be ignored if the president decides it isn’t in our “national interests.”
- There are limits on the number of days an emergency can be kept in place regardless of the number of illegals.
- All families must be released from custody; only single individuals can be sent back.
- Unaccompanied minors don’t count against the daily total
- It keeps all existing consent decrees in place, some of which prevent immigration laws from being enforced.
- It makes into law a controversial rule created by Biden that lets asylum officers, not immigration judges, rule on asylum claims…and it gives them a 15% raise.
- The Biden border team can “opt out” of the quota of any illegals that they think should be included.
- The bill sunsets in three years, and the maximum permissible number of “emergency” days each year decreases from 270 to 225 to 180.
- FEMA receives $1.4 billion in grants to provide shelters and immigration services. The bill also appropriates $36,000,000 for attorneys for illegals.
- Illegals entering the US after July 2021 automatically get “conditional permanent resident” status.
“I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, ‘the border never closes,’” Johnson wrote on X.
Lankford had even said previously that the 5,000 a day being let into the US was not true, until it showed up in the bill.
No matter if Trump endorsing Lankford was a misstep, the Senator won 67% of the vote in the primary, which means Republicans overwhelmingly supported Lankford in the primary.
You get what you vote for.
