Freshman GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn hails from Tennessee, a state that at its closest is still nearly 900 miles away from the Mexican border. Nevertheless, Blackburn on Thursday deemed every state in the U.S. a “border state” and every town a “border town,” which she and President Donald Trump appear to think is a problem that can only be solved by completely closing off the southern border.
“What we need to realize is that until we close that southern border, every town’s a border town, every state’s a border state, because drugs, human trafficking, sex trafficking gangs, it’s all on there on the southern border,” Blackburn said during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Monday.
In case you thought Blackburn was actually concerned about migrant girls and women being assaulted while on their trek to the U.S. and isn’t just taking some gross NIMBYistic approach to preaching her concern, her laundry list of anxieties on human and sex trafficking are—akin to Trump’s—not based in reality. (Not that reality has ever stopped Blackburn and Trump before.)
“Every Democrat should come forward and work with us because this is in our interest—to stop these drugs coming into our country, to stop the sex trafficking, to stop these gangs,” Blackburn continued, segueing into an argument for Trump’s border wall and an outright rejection of asylum seekers. “This is something that needs to be done because they continue to come across the border. Until we get that barrier, they’re going to put their foot on U.S. soil and say, ‘Asylum.’”
That’s not quite right either, but hey, she’s only a U.S. senator. Can’t expect her to know everything.