CNN's Zakaria says Biden should 'learn something from Trump' and adopt his border policies, reform asylum laws

CNN host Fareed Zakaria argued in a new interview that some of former President Trump's border policies were objectively correct, and warned that the modern asylum rules are being exploited by cartels.

"This is a place where Biden should learn something from Trump," Zakaria argued this week on PBS’ "Firing Line," noting that even if he was thwarted by courts, Trump's efforts alone were inspiring to Americans. 

"So the whole system is broken," Zakaria said of the modern asylum process. "And Biden needs to confront that and say, you know, ‘We are going to have to reform the whole system.’"

"I would wish he’d do something much more extreme, like say, ‘The old asylum system is dead. No one is coming in through that process. You have to apply from your home country,’" he added.

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After host Margaret Hoover noted this was a Trump policy, Zakaria agreed and also recalled the policy where "you have to be in Mexico to apply [for asylum]. I think that’s all correct."

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"It’s also the right policy, because the old asylum system is being gamed by millions of people," Zakaria said when asked if he thinks Biden should strategically adopt Trump's border policies.

Zakaria had gone into detail comparing previous decades’ immigration, where illegal immigrants would sneak past law enforcement to cross the border, whereas now they are aided by cartels and seek to be caught by law enforcement so they can be legally processed as asylum seekers.

"They’re not running away from law enforcement, they’re running towards law enforcement," Zakaria said. "Because they have figured out that all they have to say is the magic words, ‘I have a credible fear of persecution,’ and bingo, you’re in the country legally. You get two court hearings that can take seven years, meanwhile, you slip into the shadows of the economy."

"I still think that what Biden should do is declare an emergency national security crisis, send the national guard, shut down the amnesty process and say, ‘We’re gonna redo it,’" he suggested. "It’s quite possible courts will throw out elements of what he does but this is a place where Biden should learn something from Trump."

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"Much of what Trump did, the Muslim ban, banning TikTok, shutting down the border, was overturned by courts, but people remembered that he was trying," Zakaria said. "Biden needs to do something symbolic at the border. Bill Clinton had a great line, he said the president doesn’t need to succeed, but they need to catch him trying, he’s gotta be seen to be trying to do stuff."