New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan’s home state is bordered in the north by Canada.
As a result, when she appeared over 2,000 miles away, at the US-Mexico border, there was pushback.
Democrats Joined In on the Fun
Republicans ridiculed her as ‘MAGA Maggie’ and derided her visits to Texas and Arizona as a frantic attempt to show strength on border protection. Democrats also criticized her.
Hassan traveled to the southern border in early April. Her resistance to the Biden government’s plan to eliminate the Trump-era border limitation, known as Title 42, enraged Latino leaders.
In a furious letter addressed, members of the current New Hampshire Democratic Latino Caucus withdrew from their senior leadership positions.
A Democratic state legislator rushed to the House floor to criticize Hassan, as well as Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), who is also opposed to the government’s efforts to repeal Title 42.
More than a dozen liberals and migration supporters met in Portsmouth on Tuesday, the same day Biden had been in town, to oppose Hassan’s position and demand she speak with them.
I know firsthand the difference organizing can make. It was thanks to volunteers knocking doors and making calls that I won my last race by 1,017 votes.
This year, we can't take anything for granted. Sign up to volunteer today: https://t.co/Pl7ltWGUlU pic.twitter.com/oP4doyPtq4
— Maggie Hassan (@Maggie_Hassan) April 23, 2022
The vehement opposition reveals the tumultuous issues that surround Title 42, as well as the challenges facing vulnerable swing-state lawmakers like Hassan.
She is one of four Democratic lawmakers whose destiny in November will largely decide Senate leadership.
“I’m enraged to the point of rage. I do not see what she thinks she’s going to achieve by doing this thing,” mentioned Eva Castillo, head of the New Hampshire Coalition for Immigrants and Refugees and one of the letter’s embasadores.
“I believe she is attempting to cater to the right and believes doing so will help her gain more support.”
Castillo said she’s thinking about leaving her U.S. Senate vote blank.
She Has Never Been Weaker
“She was weak in the last campaign, and she’s even more susceptible now. So, if we all elected to leave it empty, it would say a lot,” she explained.
What a brutal couple of weeks for @Maggie_Hassan. Ouch.
“Border visit backfires on vulnerable Senate Dem”https://t.co/WtxMhr4krE
— Chris Hartline (@ChrisHartline) April 24, 2022
Hassan isn’t the only one who opposes the Biden government’s efforts to repeal Title 42.
Several House and Senate Democrats, such as Arizona’s Mark Kelly, Georgia’s Raphael Warnock, as well as Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto, have urged the government to postpone the policy’s repeal.
This policy allows Border Patrol agents to rapidly deport thousands of migrants without allowing them to apply for asylum.
With the exception of Kelly, who represented a border state, Hassan is the only member of the group who has visited the border to underscore the importance of border protection.
“She’s again in election mode, so on the boundary, she’ll out-Republican the conservatives.”
Is she unsatisfactory? “Certainly,” said Arnie Arnesen, a liberal radio talk show personality and former Democratic candidate for governor.
“I doubt she’ll earn another vote with what she’s doing. We will support Maggie, not because she is a good person, but rather because we support democracy, and she will not support Mitch McConnell.”
