Made of miles of reinforced steel and barbed wire, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee got a first-hand look at the fence that runs along the U.S.-Mexico border during a visit to San Diego.
“When people talk about border security, what we're really talking about is safety for American families,” Huckabee said during a news conference in San Ysidro on Saturday.
Huckabee’s tour of the border fence was led by members of the National Border Patrol Council.
The group toured the stretch of fence from the Pacific Ocean to the San Ysidro Port of Entry, a widely-used border crossing in south San Diego.
Also on hand, former Congressman Duncan Hunter, the man who helped to pass the Secure Fence Act of 2006. The legislation led to 14 miles of double fence and more than 600 miles of additional fencing along the southwest border.
“A fence and even the best electronics in the world will never replace the human element of having an increased number of people who are empowered to enforce this border,” Huckabee said.
If elected, Huckabee's plan is to secure the U.S. border within the first year of his presidency.
“The one thing I would do is deploy the Director of Homeland Security with his family and say, ‘This is where you're going to be stationed until that border is secure,’” he added at the news conference.
Huckabee also pledges to end illegal immigration and says he will reject what he calls President Obama’s “unconstitutional executive orders” on this issue.
“I do not support an amnesty because I think that is an invitation to disaster,” Huckabee added.
