Fox News' Chris Wallace grills Trump adviser Steven Miller: 'Where's the national emergency to build a wall?'
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller appeared on Fox News Sunday to defend President Trump's Friday declaration of a national emergency to obtain funding for border wall construction — and host Chris Wallace did not let him off lightly.
"The president talks about an 'invasion' — he used that word multiple times on Friday — an 'invasion' on the southern border," Wallace said. "But let's look at the facts," he continued, citing statistics to show illegal border crossings have fallen dramatically in the last two decades; that the vast majority of heroin and fentanyl seizures at the border take place at official entry points, not unfenced areas; and that visa overstays now account for twice as many illegal entries to the United States as illicit border crossings.
"Again," Wallace concluded, "where's the national emergency to build a wall?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
After promising to address every fact Wallace raised, Miller responded by arguing that would-be illegal immigrants are now sneakier and more difficult to deport than they were two decades ago and that more drugs are not captured in unfenced areas of the border because there is not enough manpower there to capture them.
Wallace didn't seem convinced, but turned the conversation to constitutional questions concerning the national emergency, repeatedly pressing Miller on whether he can "name one case where a president has asked Congress for money, Congress has refused, and the president has then evoked national policy to get the money anyway?"
Miller refused to give Wallace the yes or no answer he sought, instead arguing the National Emergencies Act is Congress "saying the president could have this authority," so any time the president declares an emergency he automatically has congressional approval to spend money on the situation as he pleases.
Watch the full interview below, or read the transcript here. Bonnie Kristian
Watch the latest video at href="https://www.foxnews.com">foxnews.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
'Republicans want to silence Israel's opponents'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 19, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - priority delivery, USPS on fire, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Peter Murrell: Sturgeon's husband charged over SNP 'embezzlement' claims
Speed Read SNP expresses 'shock' as former chief executive rearrested in long-running investigation into claims of mishandled campaign funds
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Mark Menzies: Tories investigate MP after 'bad people' cash claims
Speed Read Fylde MP will sit as an independent while party looks into allegations he misused campaign funds on medical expenses and blackmail pay-out
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why Johnson won't just pass Ukraine aid
Speed Read The House Speaker could have sent $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine — but it would have split his caucus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sudan on brink of collapse after a year of war
Speed Read 18 million people face famine as the country continues its bloody downward spiral
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump's first criminal trial starts with jury picks
Speed Read The former president faces charges related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How will Israel respond to Iran's direct attack?
Speed Read Iran’s weekend attack on Israel could escalate into a wider Middle East war
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published