by CHARLESTON, South Carolina – Newly announced Republican presidential hopeful for 2024 Nikki Haley exclusively told Breitbart News that if elected president, she hopes to divert jobs to Americans and not allow illegal aliens to work in the United States receive.
Haley, who was governor of South Carolina and later served as US ambassador to the United Nations under then-President Donald Trump, announced her presidential campaign on Wednesday. Following her announcement speech, Haley took to the stage for an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on a range of topics including immigration and China.
During her speech, she touted one of the toughest immigration laws in the country, which she signed into law as South Carolina’s governor, called Senate Bill 20. Among other things, this law implemented the statewide E-Verify requirements — and provided the governor with the resources and skills to enforce it and punish companies that hired illegal aliens instead of Americans.
“We’re a country of laws,” Haley told Breitbart News when asked about the E-Verify measure. “The second you stop being a country of laws, you stop everything this country was founded on. We must secure our borders. The fabric of America is legal immigration, but those processes must be in place. We will not give people a passport to come to this country. My parents came here legally. You put in the time, you put in the price. They are offended by what is happening at the border.”
When asked to address the issue, specifically how she views immigration as an economic issue by speaking on E-Verify, Haley told Breitbart News that Americans need to get the job opportunities available — not illegal aliens.
“What we did in South Carolina with E-Verify was you had to verify that this person was legally in that country or you couldn’t hire them,” Haley said. “We introduced that in South Carolina, and more importantly, we enforced it. If you enforce it, one that will stop anyone from getting across the border. Second, it employs laws that matter. Americans need to get these jobs. We need Americans to build things again. We need Americans back to work. We don’t have to pay them to sit on the couch. We have to get them to work, but we have to have the jobs ready for them when we get them there.”
Haley said that as president, she would visit the border — something Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have consistently opposed — and that she would listen to Border Patrol agents about their needs and priorities.
“Absolutely, I would go to the border — and not only that, I would listen to the Border Patrol families and what the Border Patrol agents say they need them,” Haley said. “Don’t sit and listen to what people in DC say they need it. Listen to those border guards because they deal with this every day.”
Haley also said she believes Biden tried to throw her under the bus by giving Harris the border crisis as a problem assignment.
“I don’t know if Biden tried to throw Kamala under the bus, but to appoint her border tsarina and then see what she did about it was a total joke. It can’t go on like this,” Haley said. “She doesn’t talk about it. He doesn’t talk about it. She doesn’t go to the limit. He doesn’t go to the limit. At some point someone has to go to the border.”
Haley also touted her time in the Trump administration, pointing to successful policies under Trump, such as his dealings with Northern Triangle countries, including Guatemala, and his stay-in-Mexico deal with the Mexican government, as working guidelines . She slammed Biden for scrapping that policy and said as president she would implement Trump’s immigration gains again.
“I worked with President Trump as he addressed this immigration situation,” Haley said. “I’ve been to Honduras and Guatemala and we’ve spoken to these leaders about how to keep their people there. What the last government did worked. Biden broke it. The idea that they’re going to stay in Mexico, the idea that they’re building the wall, the idea that we have secure borders—all of those things count. And Joe Biden went and broke it all and we saw the biggest breakout over the border that we’ve ever seen and a bunch of terrorists that crossed the border. He broke something that really worked and now we have to go back and do it all over again.”
