Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, arrives for a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Biden didn’t do it," he added, faulting several administrations for failing to enforce the law.
The clip drew immediate attention from across the political spectrum, with the Republican National Committee’s research arm posting it within hours to X.
Sanders, who ran for president twice on a populist economic platform, has previously broken with his party on immigration enforcement, warning during the 2020 campaign about the risks of "open borders" rhetoric. He said the U.S. has the "technology and manpower" to secure the border but that leaders of both parties have failed to do so.
"I’m not going to sit here and tell you that overall [Biden] did a good job — it was not," Sanders said.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a "No Kings" rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday. (Fox News / Pool)
During a March 2020 Fox News town hall, Sanders said he "would not close the borders" even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, calling border shutdowns "xenophobic."
In January 2019, as Trump in his first term as president made a prime-time case that a border crisis required urgent action, Sanders downplayed the situation, saying at the time "we don’t need to create artificial crises" at the border.
Given that history, Sanders’ new tone represents a striking reversal. By saying "it ain’t that hard" to secure the border and urging Democrats to "have a border," the Vermont independent is echoing long-standing conservative arguments.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Sanders’ office for additional comment.
Jasmine Baehr is a Breaking News Writer for Fox News Digital, where she covers politics, the military, faith and culture.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sanders-praises-trump-slams-biden-border-youve-got-have-borders-period