It didn’t take long for a political quarrel to unfold during a CNN town hall on Thursday featuring four members of Congress, who, besides taking audience questions, also took on each other.
The first head-to-head of the night brought Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) out of his seat to respond to jabs flung by Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) as the two debated immigration issues, including the Laken Riley Act.
Hayes admitted early on that she regretted her vote in favor of the GOP-backed legislation named after a 22-year-old nursing student who authorities said was slain by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant last year.
But Lawler doubled down on his support for the bill and the need for a fix to what he called a “fundamentally broken” immigration system. He appeared on Thursday ready to spar with anybody who disagreed.
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That included Hayes, who insisted that the country can have “border security and immigration reform,” but added what the Trump administration was engaging in was "all punitive" and not border security. She raised her voice and addressed Lawler directly as she told him: “People who have committed crimes and don't belong here, you're absolutely right, should be deported. But that's not what we're talking about.”
Lawler sprung from his seat and blamed former President Joe Biden’s policies.
“We need a system that works, but you can't get there unless you secure the border,” he said. “And so the fact that none of you, frankly, opposed what Joe Biden did, none of you stood up and said, ‘this is wrong.’”
Hayes responded by asking CNN’s Jake Tapper to “fact check” Lawler because, as she pointed out, the immigration bill that failed to pass the House last year was “negotiated by a Republican senator” despite Lawler claiming there was not a bipartisan effort behind it.
