During a Fox News town hall, 2020 presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he would not close the southern border to prevent the spread of the Wuhan virus.
“If you had to, would you close down the borders?” anchor Bret Baier asked Sanders.
“No,” Sanders said. “What we don’t want to do, we have a president who has promulgated xenophobic, anti-immigrant sentiment from before he was elected. What we need to do is have the scientists take a hard look at what we need to do.”
Unbelievable: @BernieSanders is asked if he would close the border to prevent Coronavirus from further spreading.
Sanders: "No." pic.twitter.com/xP9kIssjEd
— Chris Martin (@chrisjdmartin) March 9, 2020
Sanders suggested people self-quarantine instead.
“There are communities were the virus is spreading, what does that mean? It may mean self-quarantine, maybe not having public assemblies,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ comments sharply contrast Trump saying he was “very strongly” considering closing the southern border.
"We have received a lot of power on the southern border over the last couple years from the courts" — Trump says he's considering closing the southern border in response to coronavirus (no cases have come from Mexico) pic.twitter.com/NTpLIlZ1CP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 29, 2020
