Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders praised President Donald Trump’s border policy on Sunday, admitting the Trump administration has made positive steps in addressing human trafficking and the deadly fentanyl trade — a complete reversal from the 2020 election attacks he leveled at conservatives.
Trumps’ policies are working, it seems — and hypocritical liberals and Democrats are backpedaling.
In a wide-ranging interview on ABC’s “This Week” with Jonathan Karl that aired Sunday, Sanders admitted that former President Joe Biden and Democrats did a poor job handling the illegal immigration crisis that raged for four years.
When pressed about why illegal immigration “exploded under Biden,” Sanders bashed his colleagues.
“Yes, should have done much better. No argument,” Sanders admitted. He went on to praise Trump’s approach to border security, particularly regarding the fentanyl crisis that has claimed thousands of American lives.
“I mean, I think cracking down on fentanyl, making sure our borders are stronger,” he said.
“Look, nobody thinks illegal immigration is appropriate, and I happen to think we need comprehensive immigration reform, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for people to be coming across the border illegally. So, we’ve got to work now on comprehensive immigration reform,” Sanders stated.
This \is a complete reversal from Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign platform, which called for breaking up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), pausing all deportations, stopping the border wall construction, ending the “Remain in Mexico” policy, and decriminalizing illegal immigration by making it a civil infraction. Video of Sanders claims, just four years apart, quickly went viral.
Sanders’ 2020 platform described Trump as “a racist, a xenophobe, and a demagogue” and stated that “The Trump administration’s treatment of immigration exclusively as a criminal and national security matter is inhumane, impractical, and must end.”
At the time, Sanders said that America needed illegal immigrants to do hard labor like picking crops and meat processing.
“The idea that Trump has, I don’t know what his latest numbers are. He wants to deport 20 million people who are in this country who are undocumented. Well, you do that, you destroy the entire country,” Sanders claimed. “Because, I got news for you, Trump’s billionaire friends are not going to pick the crops in California that feed us. They’re not going to work in meat packing houses. That’s what undocumented people are doing.”
Take a look —
BERNIE: I like that Trump is making our borders stronger.
ALSO BERNIE: I think a border wall is an absurd idea that makes us look foolish, and I would stop ICE enforcement operations and end all deportations. pic.twitter.com/YiNQ3WXsnm
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 23, 2025
The interview later grew tense when Karl asked about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political rise in the Democratic Party. Sanders abruptly stood up, calling the question “nonsense” and declaring, “I don’t want to talk about inside-the-Beltway stuff.”
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have recently completed several stops on their far-Left “Fighting Oligarchy Tour” fundraiser with events across Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado.
The Trump’s administration has recently begun deportation efforts to several countries including Panama, El Salvador, and Colombia as part of the president’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration.