Conservative adviser says GOP should focus on border security generally, not border wall

Conservative adviser Andi Bottner said in an interview that aired Thursday on "What America's Thinking" that the Republican Party needs to focus on the general issue of border security instead of President TrumpDonald John TrumpChelsea Clinton announces birth of third child Ukrainian officials and Giuliani are sharing back-channel campaign information: report Trump attacks 'the Squad' as 'racist group of troublemakers' MORE's proposed wall.

"I think border security, more generally," Bottner, a senior adviser at the Independent Women's Forum, told Hill.TV's Krystal Ball on Wednesday when asked if Trump's rhetoric on his proposed border wall would attract white, suburban women back to the GOP. 

"It's a dangerous situation for those in our country when someone is desperately coming across, and we're not sure are they violent, are they this, are they that, [and] they're in here illegally," she continued. 

"It's also a dangerous situation for those migrants who are coming," Bottner added. "One in three women making the journey is at risk of sexual assault. It's not good for either side of the border, which is why I think it's so critical and so difficult to create a better process." 

The U.S. went through its longest-ever government shutdown in December and January after the White House and congressional Democrats were unable to reach a deal on funding that included Trump's long-promised border wall. Democrats have offered funding for national security that does not include a wall.

While Trump sees the border wall as playing to his base, observers say some traditional GOP voting groups are turned off by hard-line immigration rhetoric.

— Julia Manchester