Gov. Scott Walker
Governor Scott Walker once again found his campaign on the defensive Monday, following comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in which he said building a wall along the nation’s norther border was a “legitimate” idea.
During an interview on the program, the Republican presidential candidate was asked by host Chuck Todd whether he thought a wall is needed to protect the border with Canada, given his support for one along the border with Mexico. Walker replied, “Some people have asked us about that in New Hampshire. They raised some very legitimate concerns, including some law enforcement folks that brought that up to me at one of our town hall meetings about a week and a half ago. So that is a legitimate issue for us to look at.”
Walker faced criticism from both sides of the aisle Monday, with many arguing it’s impractical to think a wall could be built along the 5,000 mile long border between the U.S. and Canada.
The governor’s campaign fired back on Monday afternoon. In a statement, spokeswoman AshLee Strong said that “despite the attempts of some to put words in his mouth, Gov. Walker wasn’t advocating for a wall along our northern border. Chuck asked about it and Gov. Walker said based on what he’s hearing from people there are security concerns that need to be addressed.”
The campaign also included links to a number of articles that have stated concerns from others about terrorists being able to cross in to the United States through loose restrictions along the northern border.
Walker on Friday delivered a foreign policy speech that focused heavily on protecting the U.S. from “radical Islamic terrorism.” His plan to combat the threat includes efforts to strengthen the nation’s border security.
Dylan Brogan contributed to this report.