In this image provided by Fox News Channel, Caitlyn Jenner is interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity on May 5 in Malibu, Calif. | Fox News Channel via AP
OAKLAND — Republican reality TV star and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner took a hard line on immigration issues Wednesday, telling told Fox News that she is "all for the wall" — former President Trump's controversial southern border effort — and would end California's "sanctuary state" status as governor.
"I am all for the wall, I would secure the wall. We can't have a state, we can't have a country, without a secure wall," Jenner told host Sean Hannity in her first major television interview since she entered the California governor's race nearly two weeks ago.
But Jenner also appeared to support undocumented immigrants already living in the country.
"You have two questions here," she said. "One is stopping people from coming in illegally into the state. And then the second question is, what do we do with the people that are here? We are a compassionate country, okay? We are a compassionate state."
"I mean, some people we're going to send back, OK, no question about that," she added. "But I have met some of the greatest immigrants into our country."
Asked if she would eliminate sanctuary status of California, Jenner told Hannity, "I would do my absolute best to do that.''
Pressed on whether she would allow the state officials to work with ICE — presumably in deportations of undocumented immigrants — Jenner said: "I am for securing this state. I am pro-law enforcement. I am for border protection. I am pro-ICE. We need these people to to do their job."
The Republican's sit-down with Hannity in Malibu, in front of what was described as a crowd of her supporters, seemed clearly aimed to put her squarely in the sights of GOP base voters and donors nationwide in the run-up to the California recall election challenging Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The unusually friendly turf for the interview of a California gubernatorial candidate was clear from the opening minutes of the broadcast, when Hannity announced that he backed the Newsom recall and said his show was coming from "the united Socialist state" of California. He ticked off a litany of what he called problems causing residents to flee the state, adding that Jenner offered a "new path" to Newsom's leadership. Hannity's show then ran Jenner's new 3-minute video ad, in which she offers to "restore and renew the California dream."
For the next hour, Jenner, 71 — the reality TV star whose comic struggles to govern a chaotic family on “Keeping Up With The Kardashians" introduced her to a whole new generation of Americans — argued that she was ready to govern the world’s fifth largest economy.
But she repeatedly failed to provide more than general statements on her policies or positions.
On the issue of transgender girls in sports, Jenner stressed that "biological boys" should not participate in girls sports. "I think we have to make sure that the integrity of girls sports is there. I think that's extremely important," she said.
Then Jenner, one of the country's most visible transgender women, added: "Why do they keep asking me that question? ... There's more problems here in the state of California than that."
On battling California's increasingly destructive wildfire season, she said, "We need to upgrade our electrical grid." She also called for an early-detection system for fires and said "forest management is extremely important," but gave few other details.
Jenner also briefly addressed the state's water concerns, saying, "We are headed for a drought. That has to be looked at in advance."
In a statement that will be fodder for the Newsom team, Jenner expressed firm support for former President Donald Trump, whose poll numbers are at historic lows in California.
"What I liked about Donald Trump was that he was a disrupter. He came in and shook the system up," she said. "He did some things that I agreed with, some things that I didn't agree with ... On the other hand, Biden, I don't think I've agreed with anything."
Hannity came to Jenner's aid when the former Olympian said she’s "pro-illegal immigration" — prompting Hannity to ask, "You mean pro legal immigration?"
Jenner effusively thanked the Fox News host for the correction of her misstatement, saying, "Sean, you got my back."
State elections officials last month announced that recall backers had secured at least 1.6 million valid signatures — more than enough to qualify the election likely to take place in the fall.
The drive largely relied on the state's Republican voters, and organizers fed on anger at Newsom over his pandemic restrictions on businesses, churches and schools. They collected the bulk of their signatures during the state's worst coronavirus spike from November to January, when the governor imposed a strict lockdown. Newsom also made a major misstep when he dined at one of the nation's most exclusive restaurants for a lobbyist friend's birthday party after suggesting that residents stay home and limit their interactions.
Newsom's management of the Covid-19 pandemic has been "absolutely horrible," Jenner told Hannity, adding that "he's destroyed businesses, thousands of businesses."
But California now has the nation's lowest coronavirus rate and businesses are starting to open on a wider scale, including Disneyland and professional sports stadiums. Vaccines are widely available, and residents have begun meeting with friends and family again after being fully inoculated.
Still, most of California's 6 million public schoolchildren don't have access to five days a week of classroom instruction, a sticking point for critics, including Jenner and other Republican challengers. They have said they would open schools full-time if elected governor. Newsom has pushed local districts and labor unions to do the same, but he has given them control over the decisions.
Jenner portrayed herself as "an outsider" to the political process and the antidote to Newsom, saying she is now "in a race for solutions" to solve the state's most critical problems.
“I want to take that same fight, that same spirit, go to Sacramento, surround myself with some of the smartest people out there," she said. "I am an outsider... now I'm in a race for solutions."
Jenner also said it's important to be a role model for young people who are transgender. "And for me to be a role model, for them, to be out there," she said. "I am running for governor of the state of California, who would ever thunk that? We've never even had a woman governor.”
Newsom has largely ignored Jenner's entry into the race, though in events this week, aimed his ire at Fox News — dismissing the current drive as “the Republican recall" that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, with the partisan aim of undoing his landslide election victory in 2018.
“The Republican National Committee is behind this, Republican leaders ... an entire news network is behind this effort,’’ Newsom said in an event Tuesday where he was endorsed by California Professional Firefighters. “I hope people take the time to discover what this actually is," he said. “There is a lot at stake for California.”
Newsom’s campaign — which reaped a windfall of $300,000 in donations in the 36 hours after Jenner’s campaign declaration — used Jenner’s appearance on Fox to launch a new fundraising pitch to Democratic donors before the broadcast.
Calling it “a far right recall attempt paid for by Trump’s donors, run by Trump’s campaign manager, going on Trump’s favorite television station, for an event with Trump’s favorite host," the Newsom team appealed to Democrats, saying “We’re taking on Trump’s entire operation in this recall attempt — and Gavin Newsom needs your help to make sure they don’t win.”
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