Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Agrees With Trump: ‘Build The Wall’
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh apparently agrees with Donald Trump that the U.S. should build a wall at the southern border to deter the flow of illegal immigrants.
Harbaugh got into a political rant in the context of the NFL, the refs, and the referees union’s unwillingness or inability to reach an agreement about officials working training camp practices. Harbaugh contends that if the refs got more training camp reps, they’d be less rusty when games start counting for real.
“What prompted this? A Donald Trump ad? No, the riff began when Harbaugh was asked what he didn’t like about the first preseason win and officiating was at the top of his list,” the Washington Post explained.
Head coach since January 2008, John Harbaugh led his team to a victory in Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013, when the Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers and head coach Jim Harbaugh by a score of 34-31. The brother-on-brother Super Bowl matchup was deemed the “Harbowl.”
Somehow the referee discussion with the news media unexpectedly “bordered” on politics, as Harbaugh made reference, according to the Baltimore Sun, to one of the immigration reform measures released by Donald Trump, currently the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
“I’m going Trump here. Build the wall. If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. You’re not a country without a border, right? At the same time, you’ve got 12-15 million hard-working people here. Give them a shot. Give them a chance to become a citizen so they’re paying taxes. All of us know that it’s not that complicated, but this side doesn’t want to solve it, neither does [the other] side. Neither one of them want to solve the problem. Solve the problem.”
Reacting to the Harbaugh’s message about interested parties both in the NFL and government who are unable to get on the same page, CBS Sports noted that “Politics aside, his point about getting the refs more time to sharpen their skills remains an interesting one.”
Apart from building a wall for which he intends Mexico to pay, another of Donald Trump’s just released immigration reform proposals calls for an end to birthright citizenship, often colloquially referred to as an anchor baby. According to the Numbers USA website, Canada and the U.S. stand alone among developed nations that offer birthright citizenship to any person born in the country even if the parents are non-citizens. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France, and India are among those which have repealed laws that previously granted birthright citizenship.
[Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images Sport]
