Obama Once Defended Border Fences and Deportations—Here’s

In 2011, President Barack Obama visited the U.S. border and openly defended immigration enforcement, deportations, and even fencing, saying that as long as the laws were on the books, he had a duty to enforce them. He acknowledged that deportations sometimes affected working families, but insisted that ignoring the law was not an option in a democracy. Critics say this marked a sharp contrast with the Democratic Party’s later stance, when immigration enforcement increasingly became treated as optional.