Trump last month characterized the majority of Mexican immigrants as criminals and “rapists.”
His comments were met with chagrin by Republicans, including Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who the Washington Post reported called Trump to ask him to tone it down.
Boehner also said he still hoped that the House would tackle immigration legislation this year, adding that lawmakers “need to get serious about enforcing the laws we have and if we don’t like the laws we have, then we need, as a Congress to sit down and resolve this issue.”
While Trump has taken some hits on the national level, in Butler County, he has at least one strong supporter.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones not only supports Trump on his immigration stance, but said Friday he has invited him to visit the county for a proper thank you.
“I would appreciate if Mr. Trump would come to Butler County,” Jones said during a news conference Friday. “I want to thank him for standing up on this issue.”
This week, Trump released a statement saying that Mexico is the largest suppliers of heroin, cocaine and other drugs to the United States.
Jones, who has been outspoken about illegal immigration for years, said Trump is telling the truth.
“I have been to the border twice,” Jones said. “Drugs are pouring across our border.”
The sheriff said he supports legal immigration, but if illegals had no ill intentions “they would go through the process rather than jumping the border.”
“The prisons are full, jails are full and welfare is full — we can’t take anymore,” Jones said.
Jones said he doesn’t agree with all of Trump’s political positions and he is not supporting him in his bid for president. But the sheriff added: “He is the only one who has the guts to stand up to the Republicans and Democrats and say what has to be said.”
Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., said Trump has “always been very good at drawing media attention” and that the media “seems to be blowing stuff he said out of proportion.” Coley said he’s not among those who feels that Trump should quiet down.
“He needs to make sure that he’s honest with the voters on what his positions truly are, and he needs to tell the voters what he truly believes and how he would handle situations if he were in charge,” Coley said. “I don’t want a candidate to not be legitimate, to not be true to his beliefs on an issue. If that’s what he truly believes, he should tell people and voters should react to him according to their beliefs.”
Jose Alverez, a Republican and former West Chester Twp. trustee, said Trump has been “somewhat careless” in positioning himself for the Republican nomination for president. He said he tends to separate what Trump has to say from the rest of the party.
“He opened his mouth a little bit and said more than he meant to. The media, which I believe is biased, is going to jump all over that,” Alverez said.
“He was trying to say there was a problem on the border and there is,” he continued. “Anyone who denies that is a fool or a traitor. He may have exaggerated the approach or concern, but one cannot deny there is a problem, and we have a federal government that refuses to enforce the laws that are there now.”
Todd Hall, chair of the Butler County Republican Party, said Trump won’t be the Republican nominee despite all the media attention currently being paid to his candidacy.
“We have a strong field, including a lot of excitement around Ohio’s governor John Kasich, as he prepares to enter the race,” Hall said. “Our party will be ready to beat the Democratic nominee in 2016, give John Boehner a Republican partner in the White House, and begin to put our country back on the right path.”
Staff writers Jack Torry and Kevin Aldridge contributed to this report.
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