Nikki Haley takes hard line on immigration, calls for ‘fix’ to Texas abortion law

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to The Dallas Morning News at the Fairmont Dallas hotel on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.

DALLAS — Struggling to gain traction in the March 5 Texas primary, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley took a hard line on immigration and pressed the state to clarify abortion exemptions during an interview Friday with The Dallas Morning News.

With the nation’s southern border under pressure from migrant crossings, Haley said the U.S. should deport millions of people who are already in the country without authorization.

“You have to send them back,” Haley said during a 17-minute interview at the Fairmont Dallas hotel. “As cruel as that sounds, those that came here during these past several, four or five years, we have to send them back. And the reason you do that is you have to go and let them know they can’t cut the line.”

Haley, who is of Indian descent, said her parents legally immigrated to America.

“They put in the time, they put in the price,” Haley said. “They are offended by what’s happening on the border. My mom would always say if they don’t follow the law when they come here, they won’t follow the law when they actually get here.”

Asked if it was practical to deport millions of people, Haley said: “If we can find them, yes.”

“What’s not safe is the fact that 8.5 million illegal immigrants have come across this border. None of them have been vetted,” she added. “We know there are people from Afghanistan. We know there are people from Yemen. We know that there are people related to Hamas. All it takes is one for a 9/11 moment. America’s acting like it’s Sept. 10. We better remember what Sept. 12 felt like.”

Haley’s remarks on what to do with the estimated 10.5 million to 12 million people in the country without authorization came after she promised – if elected president – to secure the nation’s southern border with Mexico and make it unnecessary for Gov. Greg Abbott to deploy Operation Lone Star, the state’s multibillion-dollar border security operation.

“There won’t be a need because we’ll secure the border,” Haley said. “Gov. Abbott shouldn’t have to do this. If the federal government and Congress did their job, he wouldn’t have to do this.”

Haley also applauded Abbott for transporting migrants to New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.

“The rest of the country needed to feel what Texans feel,” she said. “It’s dangerous, and Texans shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone.”

Haley’s border security plan includes a national E-Verify program that requires businesses to prove their employees are in the country legally. She also supports defunding sanctuary cities, adding 25,000 Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and returning to the remain in Mexico policy that was in place during former President Donald Trump’s term.

“Instead of catch and release, we’d go to catch and deport,” Haley said. “That’s how you stop what’s happening at the border.”

During the interview with The News, Haley weighed in on another hot-button issue in Texas.

She said Texas officials should revisit laws that prompted Kate Cox, a Dallas-area woman, to leave the state for an abortion. Cox had sought a medical exemption to the state’s strict anti-abortion laws, arguing doctors said her nonviable pregnancy was a threat to her health and future fertility. The Texas Supreme Court denied Cox’s challenge, saying her doctors had not proved she was legally entitled to the exemption.

“They should make sure no woman in that situation ever goes through that again,” Haley said.

“When you see something wrong, fix it,” she added. “We don’t want any other woman to go through what she went through. … It’s OK to put laws in place, but let’s not be so blinded that we don’t fix them when we see there’s something that needs to be adjusted.”

Haley said she opposes draconian penalties for getting an abortion.

“Let’s make sure for any woman who has an abortion that no state can say that she’s going to get the death penalty or go to jail over that,” Haley said.

She also supports exceptions to abortion regulations in cases of rape.

“I had a roommate in college who was raped,” she said. “I wouldn’t wish on anyone to go through what she went through wondering if she was pregnant.”

Texas law does not permit abortions in cases of rape or incest.

“Everybody has a story,” Haley continued. “We need to be respectful of that story. Let’s stop demonizing this issue. Let’s bring people together.”

Haley said she’s “unapologetically pro-life” but “hurt” for Cox when her ordeal was made public.

“My husband was adopted and I did have trouble having both of my children,” she said. “But I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice.”

Haley said she supported the 2022 Supreme Court decision striking down national abortion rights.

“Some states went more pro-life. I welcome that,” she said. “Some states went more pro-choice. I wish that wasn’t the case, but the people decided to and I respect that.”

Haley is the last major Republican candidate standing between Trump and the GOP presidential nomination.

Polls show Trump with a large lead in Texas, a state where he’s backed by most of the Republican political elite.

Haley, who held a rally Thursday night in Dallas, said she’s trying to convince voters that she’s the best choice to top the GOP ticket in November to defeat President Joe Biden and provide coattails for down-ballot Republicans.

“Everybody loves to talk about those (primary) polls, but let’s talk about the polls on what happens in the general election,” Haley said. “Donald Trump does not defeat Joe Biden. … If we want to turn this country around, we have to win.”

Haley pointed out that Republicans didn’t fare well in the 2018 midterm elections, Trump lost the 2020 election and Republicans had a poorer than expected performance in the 2022 midterm elections.

“We have got to get a new generational leader that’s going to really focus on the hard work to get our country back on track,” she said. “No more revenge. No more vendettas. No more chaos and drama.”

Haley warned that if Biden won reelection, Vice President Kamala Harris would ultimately become president. She also said Trump and Biden are both too old for the job of president and called for mental competency tests to be administered to elected officials older than 75.

“There will be a female president of the United States,” she said. “It will either be me or it will be Kamala Harris. If Donald Trump is the nominee, it will be Kamala Harris.”

Haley said she has no plans of dropping from the race, adding that “70% of Americans don’t want to see a Biden-Trump rematch.”

“I’m not going anywhere. We have a country to save,” she said. “You don’t chase Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.”

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