Legendary NBA star Charles Barkley, who is, for the most part, a hardcore Democrat, broke with his usual party by doubling down on his views concerning immigration enforcement, slamming Democratic policies while also sticking up for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), going on to call for stricter voter identification requirements.
Barkley was having a conversation with former Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl when he delivered his political commentary on the issue, making it abundantly clear that his support for Democrats doesn’t mean that he agrees lockstep with their platform and principles. The Hall of Famer, who claims to be an independent despite voting Democrat almost all his life, made the case that America must have secure borders and a functioning immigration enforcement system.
The former basketball star also pushed back against those who have made calls for eliminating ICE. “My thing is, number one, we can’t have open borders, okay? But ICE, I don’t talk bad about ICE because I think they are very useful, very useful,” Barkley stated in a clip that was shared by Pearl on his social media accounts.
According to a report from Trending Politics News, Barkley argued that federal immigration authorities should make a clear distinction between illegal aliens who follow the law and those who are committing crimes on U.S. soil. “Cause we should be able to differentiate the good immigrants to the bad immigrants. I don’t even think it’s that hard,” Barkley said during the discussion.
“Like, ‘Wait a minute, if you’re committing crimes, you can’t be here.’ Like, people who are crooks gotta go. That is so simple. But both parties have weaponized immigration,” he continued. The NBA legend then switched his attention to another hot-button political issue under the umbrella of immigration enforcement: voter ID requirements.
Barkley said that he supports the idea of requiring voters to provide proof of their identity before casting ballots, slamming Democrats for not handling the issue properly. “You should need ID to vote,” Barkley stated plainly. “No, we need to know who you are if you can vote. But the Democrats have failed in that aspect,” the Hall of Famer explained.
“And like I say, I’m not gonna talk bad about ICE, but we need to do a better job. Okay, if you a crook, you gotta go,” Barkley said. His comments come as a national debate concerning immigration enforcement continues to divide the country. Republicans have, for the most part, been in favor of stricter ID requirements to be able to vote and have worked to expand immigration enforcement.
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Democrats on the other hand have tried to make the claim that both stricter ID laws and immigration enforcement policies and operations threaten certain demographics’ access to voting and have led to the mistreatment of immigrants. Barkley’s comments on the issue are noteworthy because he has been open in his criticism of President Donald Trump and does not identify himself with Republicans.
The former NBA star recently appeared on The Chris Cuomo Project where he also publicly rejected calls to abolish ICE, eliminate prisons, and defund police departments. “Some of these people out here talking about no ICE, no prison, using words like socialism,” Barkley stated during the program. “Like, no, I don’t believe in that. Wait, wait, no cops? I think that’s some of the stupidest sh*t I’ve ever heard.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video