CHICAGO — Attendees at the Democratic National Convention dismissed the criticism from Republicans that the perimeter fencing and tight security around the convention protecting Democrat officials should also be erected at the southern border.
“It’s a false equivalence, right? Let’s just be 100,” Louidajean Payton from Naperville, Illinois, told Fox News Digital at the DNC’s DemPALOOZA event in Chicago on Tuesday, responding to the Republican narrative that Democrats are being hypocritical by installing fencing, barricades and layers of security at the convention while typically not supporting such precautions along the southern border.
“People are coming in, not necessarily on that border, but they flying in every day. We got another border called Canada and we also have ocean and boats. Right. So the reality is this, right? Security is always a priority. But when you try to stigmatize and divide people, that’s when I know you’re not really for us.”
Payton continued, “Let’s be honest, those people weren’t trying to cross the border like that when I was little. You know why? Because they could still make a good living doing agriculture, right? But let’s not talk about politics and how it got to where it is right now. So, when you really think about it, the dynamics of what’s going on there, Democrats were concerned about it as well as Republicans. But that’s a false equivalence.”
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DNC attendees told Fox News Digital it is not hypocritical to erect a wall at the DNC while the border remains open.
“There are two different issues,” Chukwudi Chuck Eke, a Nigerian-American citizen attending the DNC representing the National Diversity Platform 4 Kamala Harris, told Fox News Digital.
Eke brought up the assassination attempt on former President Trump and said he “thanked God” for saving Trump’s life but said it was a “learning experience.”
“Every event you organize there’s been some form of security to protect life, so there are no comparisons. We’re talking about the security of an event and the security of the border; those are two different things. It’s not a good analogy to speak about, it’s like comparing apples and oranges.”
A Democratic National Convention security checkpoint outside the United Center (Fox News Digital )
Patrice Parker, a Democrat who came to Chicago from Alaska for the event, told Fox News Digital that Republicans “lie about everything” and suggested their criticism shows that they have degraded as a party.
“I can’t believe what it’s turned into. Ted Stevens was a Republican. He was independent. He voted for what he believed in not for some freak like Donald Trump. I think the same thing now with Lisa Murkowski. I never voted for her, but I came to respect her.”
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
President Biden speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)
Parker added that “it’s all about security” for all these “really important valuable people that are running our country.”
“Walls for me, but not for thee,” Trump campaign spokesperson Katherine Leavitt told Fox News this week, echoing criticism that conservatives have launched against the DNC in recent days.
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“It’s really telling that the DNC is using a wall to keep out undesirables who want to break into their convention, but they won’t use a wall to keep illegals out of our country,” conservative commentator Robby Starbuck posted on X. “Think about that…”