Fleming’s Immigration Record Undercuts Trump’s America First Agenda

President Donald Trump didn’t just talk about border security. He made it the defining issue of modern American politics.

Secure the border. Build the wall. Enforce the law. Put American workers first.

That became the standard Republican voters now expect from anyone asking for their support.

That’s why a new ad in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race is getting so much attention. The ad highlights past comments from State Treasurer John Fleming, including a line that is already raising eyebrows: “We don’t have enough illegal aliens… why not bus them across the border?” In a Republican primary, that’s not just a bad line. It’s a serious red flag.

But the bigger issue isn’t just what was said. It’s what was done.

When you look at Fleming’s record in Congress, a clear pattern emerges.

Time and again, he supported policies that expanded immigration or increased the amount of foreign labor brought into the U.S.. In 2011, he backed legislation that removed per-country caps on employment-based green cards, a change that would speed up the flow of foreign workers into the United States. In 2012, he voted twice for the STEM Jobs Act, which created 55,000 green cards for foreign workers in technical fields.

At a time when many Americans were struggling in the aftermath of the recession, John Fleming voted to give high-paying, skilled jobs to foreigners.

Expanding high-skilled immigration may sound technical in Washington, but in practice it increases competition for jobs, wages, and opportunities — especially in fields that are supposed to be pathways to upward mobility for American workers.

Then in 2015, Fleming voted to fund Obama's Department of Homeland Security without provisions to block the Democrats' amnesty policies. That decision effectively allowed those policies to continue without using Congress’s most powerful leverage point — the power of the purse — to stop them.

These are not isolated votes or one-off decisions. They form a consistent record. A record of supporting increased immigration flows and declining to take hard-line positions when it mattered most in Washington.

That stands in direct contrast to the approach President Trump brought to the issue. Trump didn’t hedge or recalibrate based on political convenience. He made it clear that immigration policy should serve American workers first, not global labor markets. That clarity is why the issue still resonates so strongly with Republican voters today.

And it’s why Fleming’s record matters now more than ever.

Because this race is not about who can say the right thing in a campaign ad. It’s about who actually stood for those principles when they had the chance. When voters see a candidate who supported expanding green cards, declined to use federal funding to challenge executive amnesty, and is now trying to position himself as a border hawk, it raises a fundamental question about consistency.

Louisiana voters are not confused about what they want on immigration. They want strong borders, enforced laws, and a system that prioritizes American workers. They are not looking for candidates who are trying to explain away past votes or reinterpret their record to match the current political moment.

They are looking for conviction. They are looking for clarity. And they are looking for leadership that has been consistent all along.

At the end of the day, this issue is not complicated.

You either fought for policies that put American workers first, or you didn’t.

And in this race, the record speaks for itself.