Ex-Republican Scott Baugh warns Biden of illegal immigrants, says border policies are 'inviting crime'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: About a hundred miles from the southern US border, an affluent beach town is being infiltrated by alleged illegal immigrants, and a former top Republican in California is sending a clear message to President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats.

In an interview with Fox News, Scott Baugh, the candidate for California's 47th Congressional District and a former minority leader in the state assembly, claimed that more Americans are now living as though they are near the border as a result of Biden and his policies.

What did Scott Baugh say about the US border crisis?

"You have an open border, which is really an existential threat to this country, with 10 million illegal immigrants coming across the border since Joe Biden was elected," Baugh said. "We need to stop that, and we need to reverse course and set this country back on the right path."

The district that Baugh is running for represents parts of Newport Beach, a posh town on the coast of Southern California, where, earlier this month, a dozen or so suspected illegal immigrants stepped off a boat and wandered freely into the community.

Scott Baugh says illegal immigrant infiltration 'happen regularly in Orange County'

Social media users shared a video of the incident that went viral, but according to Baugh, these kinds of incidents "happen regularly in Orange County" and have been occurring more frequently along California's southern coast.

"It makes even Newport Beach a border city, if you will, because migrants continue to come across, illegal immigrants come across. But this is a direct result of my opponent's policies, where they give free health care and free benefits to illegal immigrants," he said, referencing his Democrat opponent, state Senator Dave Min.

"All they have to do is land on our shore, and they qualify for free health care, free education and free benefits. When you continue to have a magnet that draws people in, that welcomes them in illegally, well, it doesn't surprise you — it shouldn't surprise you — that they continue to come," he said.

"We have to stop those policies and stop the incentive for them coming in. And we just simply need to secure our border and have stronger enforcement," he added.

Scott Baugh on California's soft-on-crime policies

Baugh also bemoaned California's lax enforcement of the law, citing measures like Proposition 47, a 2014 state ballot initiative that reduced the severity of some crimes, and prohibiting local law enforcement from turning over undocumented immigrants to federal immigration authorities.

"These policies are inviting crime. And when you don't enforce crime, guess what happens. More people commit crime, because there's no consequence," he said. "It's just a result of progressive policies where they don't want to hold people accountable for their illegal actions."

Scott Baugh explains actions he'd take if elected 

Baugh vowed that, if elected, he would first work to tackle the border crisis and America's rising debt, which he said has been driving the massive levels of inflation seen under the Biden administration.

He continued saying that undecided voters would eventually lean toward him in what is predicted to be a close contest because they are "fed up" with crime, inflation, illegal immigration, failing schools, and the prospect of a better future.

According to the outlet, Dave Min said, "While I'll actually bring solutions to the table and work across the aisle to address the border crisis in Congress, Scott Baugh's biggest supporters just tanked the most conservative immigration deal in a generation — a bipartisan, Border Patrol Union-backed agreement that would have funded cutting-edge fentanyl detection at our ports of entry and hired more than 1,500 new border agents and enforcement officers." 

"Baugh has yet to admit the truth: he would have tanked this border deal and stood in the way of our nation's security interests, just like the rest of his do-nothing party, and voters here in CA-47 will see right through his empty attacks in 2024 just like they did in 2022," he added.

Baugh served as a state assemblyman from 1995 to 2000 and as the minority leader from 1999-2000. In 2022, he ran to unseat Democrat Representative Katie Porter, who currently represents the 47th Congressional District, but narrowly lost.

Elections analysts rate the race for California's 47th Congressional District as either "lean Democratic," "tilt Democratic" or a "tossup."