Haley Campaign Press Release - Trump's New Ad Shows He's Terrified of Haley

Haley Fires Back at Trump's Lies

CHARLESTON, S.C. — How scared is Donald Trump of Nikki Haley's momentum? Scared enough to put millions of dollars behind false ads attacking Haley. The first attack ad was panned by fact checkers. The second ad is just as ridiculous.

"All the lame nicknames in the world don't change the fact that Donald Trump is clearly terrified of Nikki Haley's momentum," said Haley communications director Nachama Soloveichik. "Nikki passed one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration bills in the country back when Trump was still a Democrat. Trump should spend more time explaining why he never fulfilled his signature promise to build a wall instead of desperately trying to mislead voters with easily debunked ads."

LIE: Haley opposed Trump's border wall (Time Magazine, 2/1/23)

TRUTH: Haley never opposed building the wall. She opposed building the wall exclusively, arguing that we need a comprehensive approach that includes drones, planes, border agents, infrastructure, and more. Haley's full comments: "If you notice, they're all saying, 'we want to secure the borders.' That's a big deal. What does that mean to you? That's what I want to hear. That's what I think the country wants to hear. What does that mean to you in terms of your commitment to work with Congress to actually secure the border? Don't say you're just going to build a wall. Because a wall is not going to do it. You've got to have commitment of ground troops, equipment, money, all of that to bring it together. Then you're being serious about tackling illegal immigration." (National Press Club, ~44:53, 9/02/15)

LIE: Haley opposed Trump's travel ban (CNN 12/9/15)

TRUTH: Haley supported banning travel for people from countries with serious terrorist activity, but opposed religious tests. Trump himself dropped his support for a Muslim ban that was widely panned as unconstitutional in favor of a travel ban from countries posing a national security risk. The Supreme Court upheld the third version of Trump's ban specifically because "the text says nothing about religion."

In fact, Haley defended Trump's revised travel ban as UN Ambassador multiple times because it targeted geographic areas with serious terrorist activity and not religious countries or individuals.

• NBC, 3/16/17: "He's saying 'let's temporarily pause, and you prove to me that the vetting is ok, that I can trust these people coming through for the American people.
• CNN, 8/22/17: "I think the travel ban was based on certain threats and more importantly, it was based on the fact that ... we didn't have enough information. The goal was always, and the goal continues to be for the president, to keep Americans safe. In those countries, we had the info that we feel like we can monitor, and we can screen, and we can make sure exactly who is coming into our country. In those other countries on the travel ban, we don't have that, and that is not just to keep everybody out of America."
• NDTV, 06/28/18: "It's not a Muslim ban, because there are many countries that have Muslims that are allowed to come into the United States, and of the travel ban, there are countries on that list that don't have anything to do with the Muslim community. This is about safety. This is about terrorism and what the United States security agencies did was, they looked at every country and any country that we don't have enough information on the people that want to come into this country, where it's our sovereign right to say we should take a step back and make sure we have all of the information. We need to protect the people. It has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with the changing world that we're in today, and the fact that terrorism has been on the rise."

Haley's Strong Record on Tackling Illegal Immigration

As South Carolina governor, Haley signed one of the toughest immigration laws in the country.

• In 2011, Haley signed the South Carolina Illegal Immigration Reform Act, requiring police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest for another reason and suspect may be in the country illegally. The bill required South Carolina employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check the citizenship status of employees.
• The Post and Courier called these measures "some of the nation's toughest measures to curb illegal immigrants living and working here."

Haley went head-to-head with the Obama administration on illegal immigration.

• Haley fought Obama's DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to enforce South Carolina's E-Verify law. Haley took the fight public, calling out the Obama administration until it backed down.
• South Carolina filed a suit challenging Obama's constitutional authority after he issued an executive order giving temporary legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.
• Haley fought the Obama administration on accepting Syrian refugees, undocumented minors, and Guantanamo Bay prisoners in South Carolina.

In April 2023, Haley visited 400 miles along the southern border and released a comprehensive plan to secure the border.