In a newly unearthed speech from November 2006, current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden touts his support for a 700-mile southern barrier, warns of “tons” of drugs pouring in from “corrupt Mexico” and calls for a crackdown on American employers who hire “illegals.”

CNN’s K-File reported on a YouTube video of the remarks at the Rotary Club in Columbia, South Carolina.

“Folks, I voted for a fence,” the then-senator from Delaware can be heard saying, referencing his backing of the Secure Fence Act. “I voted, unlike most Democrats ― and some of you won’t like it ― I voted for 700 miles of fence. But, let me tell you, we can build a fence 40 stories high ― unless you change the dynamic in Mexico and ― and you will not like this, and ― punish American employers who knowingly violate the law when, in fact, they hire illegals. Unless you do those two things, all the rest is window dressing.”

Former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton ― both of whom were senators at the time ― also supported the bill.

Continuing, Biden, who launched his 2020 bid last month, raised several talking points currently championed by the man who may be his challenger, President Donald Trump.

“Now, I know I’m not supposed to say it that bluntly, but they’re the facts, they’re the facts,” Biden told the crowd during his previous 2008 bid for the presidential election. “And so everything else we do is in between here. Everything else we do is at the margins. And the reason why I add that parenthetically, why I believe the fence is needed does not have anything to do with immigration as much as drugs.”

Biden then stated that “people are driving across that border with tons, tons, hear me, tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin, and it’s all coming up through corrupt Mexico.”