Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, in a Newsmax interview, said Democrats are "completely opposed" to homeland security.
During a Thursday appearance on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," he said their resistance stems from efforts to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and weaken border enforcement.
As the House prepared to vote on a sweeping appropriations package to avert a government shutdown, Jackson said Democrats have zeroed in on Homeland Security funding because "they want to defund ICE."
"The homeland is the one that the Democrats are completely opposed to," Jackson said. "They want to open the borders back up.
"They want all of these illegal immigrants by the millions that were here, many of them criminals, they want them to be able to stay here and they want them to be protected."
Jackson said Republicans are determined to move forward despite Democrat opposition, stressing that the Trump administration has taken a firm stance on border security.
"That's not going to happen," he said. "That's not the world that we live in right now under President [Donald] Trump, who's cleaning this place up, and he's deporting these people.
"We're going to continue to do that."
Jackson said House leadership has worked to secure the votes needed to pass the funding bills and return to regular order after months under a continuing resolution.
"This is the way it's supposed to happen," he said. "We're supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills every year. We've passed eight already. We have four left, and we're going to do this."
The Texas congressman also praised Trump's foreign policy vision, particularly efforts to sideline the United Nations.
"Anything that undermines the United Nations, I'm all for," Jackson said, calling the U.N. a "useless organization" that the U.S. "predominantly funds" only to be "trashed" in return.
Jackson added that Republicans are also continuing efforts to dismantle Obamacare, which he called "a colossal disaster," saying healthcare reform will remain a priority over the coming year.
"We have a lot of work to do," he said. "We're going to be correcting this and trying to repair this disastrous healthcare bill that the Obama administration imposed on the American people."
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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