Republican Senator Joni Ernst somehow managed not to be struck by lightning when insisting Democrats are to blame for the lack of immigration reform. Ernst made an appearance on this weekend's Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy, and was asked about the fact that Trump and Republicans are in the toilet on the issue of immigration and what they could do about it.

Rather than admit maybe it's because people are repulsed by the Trump's administration's cruel tactics and that he lied about who he's going after, Ernst pretended Democrats were the ones that refused to negotiate on immigration reform, when it's her party that has blown up those negotiations time after time.

GOWDY: All right, Senator, let me ask you about immigration generally. Most Americans want criminals deported, but not the folks who work in farming. construction, and they've stayed out of trouble.

I mean, I have zero tolerance for criminals, but most Americans are okay with the very kind people who work so hard at our hotels and the folks waiting in the parking lot at Lowes and Home Depot. How can we get the numbers switched on immigration?

Because Trump closed the border, and yet we're underwater on that issue.

ERNST: We are underwater on that issue, but we have to come together, both Democrats and Republicans, and find a way forward on this. You mentioned agriculture, and yes, we need immigration in agriculture. I don't care if it's Iowa agriculture or California agriculture. We know we need those seasonal workers, but it must be done legally.

The problem is we need to update the system to allow for more of those immigrants in a way that benefits our farmers and our agriculture. But the problem has been that we had the open border. So the willingness to sit down and negotiate. and legal immigration was simply not there because we had the open border situation.

Now that the border is secure, I think that we should go back and having meaningful discussions on how we can update our immigration system. We know we need those workers, whether it's agriculture, we need more medical doctors in our rural areas.

So much can be done on this area if only Democrats will want to come to the table. But again, they have demonstrated us, whether it's DHS, whether it's anything else, that they just simply despise the president so much, they don't want to do the right thing for our country.

If Republicans try to give one inch on immigration, their base will go nuts, and they both know it.

h/t Raw Story