Behind Scott Walker's Border Visit Is His Immigration Muddle

His imprecision and distinctions between “amnesty,” citizenship, and legalization have left a mess.

Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, speaks during a panel discussion at the American Action Forum in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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By John McCormick

March 27, 2015 at 6:07 PM UTC

Updated on

March 29, 2015 at 12:15 AM UTC

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On Friday, Scott Walker toured the Rio Grande Valley by helicopter as a guest of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who, like the Wisconsin governor, has called for more robust security along the U.S. border with Mexico.

But improving border security isn't a position that Walker has held for that long, at least according to a 2013 interview with the Wausau Daily Herald. “You hear some people talk about border security and a wall and all that,” he told the Wisconsin newspaper. “To me, I don't know that you need any of that if you had a better, saner way to let people into the country in the first place.”