COLUMBIA, S.C.—Allies of former President Donald Trump fired a series of volleys at his sole remaining GOP challenger, Nikki Haley, at a news conference today in her home state of South Carolina.
The “Team Trump” event, held Feb. 1 outside the statehouse in Columbia, featured remarks from five top elected officials in the state where Ms. Haley had served two terms as governor. She went on to become United Nations ambassador under President Trump.
As the Palmetto State’s Feb. 24 Republican primary approaches, his campaign has ramped up rhetoric against Ms. Haley. At the same time, campaign messaging has continued hammering his presumed Democrat opponent in the Nov. 5 general election, President Joe Biden.
President Trump’s campaign accuses both Ms. Haley and President Biden of “weakness” for their policies relating to illegal immigration. After taking office in 2021, President Biden halted construction of the U.S.–Mexico border wall. The Trump campaign asserts that Ms. Haley is opposed to reviving that project.
The Epoch Times made multiple attempts to obtain comment from Ms. Haley’s campaign, without success. However, Ms. Haley’s website says she has a history of “cracking down on illegal immigration.”
During her governorship, “she signed one of the toughest immigration laws in the country, giving law enforcement more power to check whether people are illegal immigrants.”
When President Barack Obama’s administration refused to go along with the state’s “E-verify” background check, she “forced the administration to do its job and make sure businesses could verify an employee’s legal status.”
She also sued the Obama administration “over an executive order giving millions of illegal immigrants temporary legal status,” the website notes.
President Biden has asserted that Congress needs to grant him greater authority to shut down illegal border crossings. But President Trump maintains that, while he was in office, he was able to use executive orders to enforce existing laws. He questions why President Biden has not done the same.
On Thursday morning, pro-Trump forces lamented the fate of 3-year-old Madison Hines, calling her death an example of the senseless loss of life tied to the nation’s illegal immigration problem.
As South Carolina State Rep. Stewart Jones told Madison’s story, spectators behind him held posters featuring her picture and advertising a website, LoveLikeMaddie.com.
Attorney General Alan Wilson wrapped up the program, saying: “Somewhere in South Carolina, somebody’s going about their business... This time next year, they won’t be here.”
That’s because people can easily become casualties of lax border-enforcement policies.
They succumb to overdoses of the deadly drug, fentanyl, which is often smuggled into the United States from Mexico, he said. Or perhaps, like Madison, fall victim to “a drunk driver who’s not here legally.” In other cases, they could be killed by gang members who entered the country illegally.
“And that is why policy matters. And that’s why who’s at the top and who’s in the White House matters,” Mr. Wilson said, adding, “Donald Trump is the only candidate that I have faith in that can get the job done. And that’s why we’re all here today to support his candidacy.”
Other speakers included South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftis and state Reps. Bill Taylor and Cal Forrest Jr.
Mr. Wilson said he hoped that after the South Carolina primary, everyone in the Republican Party will “get behind Donald Trump.”
