Back in 2005, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) didn’t hold back in criticizing Democrats for failing to secure the border, warning about the consequences of weak immigration enforcement. However, fast forward to today, and Pelosi’s tone has completely flipped. She now condemns the Trump administration’s tough border stance and the ICE raids being conducted across the country to remove criminal illegal immigrants from the streets. The sharp reversal highlights the hypocrisy of Pelosi and many in the Democratic party, who once called for strict immigration controls but now turn a blind eye to the chaos that unchecked illegal immigration brings.
“Broken borders. That’s an oxymoron, something we can’t tolerate,” Pelosi said in 2005. “Borders… as a definition as a nation and our protection as a country. Broken borders, that doesn’t exist. We can’t tolerate them.”
“I know I can speak very firmly for the Demcorats, support strong border control,” she said about immigration reform. “We have an obligation as elected officials to keep the American people safe, and our borders are our first line of defense.”
Pelosi stated that Democrats support enforcing laws against both those who enter the country illegally and the employers who hire them. She criticized the Bush administration at the time, accusing it of failing to enforce existing border security laws.
However, this week, after ICE carried out raids on businesses in Los Angeles suspected of harboring criminal activity, Pelosi condemned the Trump administration’s actions as a dangerous abuse of power that stokes tensions and threatens public safety. She labeled the raids an “unconstitutional overreach” in California.
In 2022, Pelosi claimed that Florida farmers need illegal immigrants "to pick crops.” Her comments came after GOP governors took efforts to relocate illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border to "sanctuary cities" with lax policies on illegal immigration.
“The best thing that we can do for our economy is to have comprehensive immigration reform," Pelosi said. “We have a shortage of workers in our country, and you see even in Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying, 'Why are you shipping these immigrants up North? We need them to pick the crops down here.”
Pelosi has criticized Trump’s immigration policies as inhumane, arguing that the United States has a moral obligation to assist illegal immigrants seeking to enter the country.