Christie: No Point Visiting Border on Mexico Trip

Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday there’s no point in him visiting the border while he’s in Mexico this week, despite criticizing the president for not doing the same.

The Republican governor hit President Barack Obama last month for failing to witness the influx of illegal minors while he was on a Texas fundraising trip.

Christie said his situation is different because he’s not the president and isn’t responsible for border security. He dismissed comparisons as “silliness.”

“I mean, come on, I’m not the president, and so I’m not going to the border. What would I do exactly at the border?” he asked. “Like you know bring troops with me or something?”

“If I went down there and looked at it, what steps am I supposed to take exactly?” he later added. “Send the New Jersey National Guard there?”

Christie, who is mulling a run for president in 2016, said when the country has “a border crisis like the one we’ve had recently,” the president should travel to see for himself what’s going on so that he can best respond.

“The president has his responsibilities, I have mine,” he added. “Securing the border between the U.S. and Mexico is not within my current responsibility.”

Christie had said that Obama’s decision was an indication of his “unwillingness to lead.”

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the September 1st, 2014 edition of Hamodia.