Bernie Sanders: "We have a crisis at the border," "We must crack down on illegal immigration"

ABC’s Jon Karl pressed Sen. Bernie Sanders about images of Donald Trump’s border wall in a Harris campaign ad, in which he promised to crack down on illegal immigration. “What do you think of her transformation on this issue?” Karl asked Sanders during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

JON KARL: And on immigration, when Harris was running against you and others for the Democratic nomination in 2020, she said she supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings. She even suggested she would support abolishing ICE. Now, of course, she’s taking a much harder line, at least rhetorically, on border security. Look at this — one of her very first ads as a presidential candidate. HARRIS CAMPAIGN: Kamala Harris spent a decade fighting violent crime. As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling guns and drugs across the border. As vice president, she sponsored the toughest border enforcement law in decades. And as president, she’ll hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is hard. So is Kamala Harris. KARL: What do you think of her transformation on this issue? SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well, I don’t think it’s a question of transformation. We have a crisis at the border. We need to make sure that fentanyl doesn’t come into this country. We need to crack down on illegal immigration. But what we need is comprehensive immigration reform. I mean, you have God knows how many young people in this country as a result of DACA who deserve to be granted citizenship. We need skilled workers and we need workers in this country. There’s a huge labor shortage across America, where immigrants can play a significant role. So it’s clearly the right thing to do to keep people from coming into the country illegally. But we need comprehensive immigration reform. And I suspect that’s what the vice president supports. KARL: But — but if you look at that ad, and one thing that struck me is that if you look at — and I think we have the — the images here, there are at least three points in that ad that show the border — the border wall. Donald Trump’s border wall. Is it the Democrats’ position now that they support the border wall? SANDERS: Well, you — you can ask the Harris campaign about that ad. That’s the first time I’ve seen it.