BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—A trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona was all it took for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to change his mind on the need for a border wall pushed by his political rival former President Donald Trump.
“I went down to the border feeling that Trump has made a mistake on the wall, but I feel like people need to be able to recalibrate their worldview when they’re confronted with evidence,” he told a crowd of more than 300 on Aug. 3 at the premiere of his documentary, Midnight at the Border.
When asked by a news reporter at a press conference that followed the premiere at the Saban Theatre, if rumors that a Trump-Kennedy presidential ticket in 2024 were true, Mr. Kennedy ruled out the possibility of the unlikely Republican-Democrat pairing.
“In my experience, a lot of the stuff that you read in the mainstream news and the corporate news is what I would call conspiracy theories,” he said.
His response was met by laughter and applause.
“No, I will not be Donald Trump’s vice president,” he said.
The ‘Yuma Gap’
The 19-minute video documents Mr. Kennedy’s after-midnight visit on June 6 to an infamous gap in the border wall near Yuma, Arizona, known as the “Yuma Gap” where the California, Arizona, and U.S.–Mexico borders meet along the Colorado River.
Of the hundreds who crossed the border illegally that night and were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol, many weren’t from Latin American countries as Mr. Kennedy expected, he said, but from Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
“Only two families said they were claiming political persecution. The rest just told us openly they were coming here to make money, coming here for a better life. So, they didn’t even have that claim. And those immigrants shouldn’t be allowed into the country. We should stop that at the border,” he said.
In the film, Mr. Kennedy interviews U.S. authorities on the border crisis and illegal migrants, most of whom weren’t claiming asylum, the official reason and legal premise for them to remain in the country.
By Brad Jones
