Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley‘s campaign attempted to clean up comments she made on the U.S. southern border wall during a one-on-one debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Wednesday night.

“What we need to do is not just ban a wall; we need to put 25,000 Border Patrol and ICE agents on the ground and let them do their job,” Haley said when asked about attacks from DeSantis and former President Donald Trump over her past comments on illegal immigration.

The comments garnered some pushback on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

But when the Washington Examiner reached out to her campaign, a spokeswoman said, “She meant ‘build a wall’ not ban.”

The Trump campaign has repeatedly hounded the former ambassador for being “weak” on immigration and opposing a border wall.

During the CNN debate scheduled just five days before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, Trump’s campaign sent out an email pointing to her opposition against Trump’s travel ban on immigrants.

“In March 2017, Haley rejected banning immigrants flooding America from countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea. She said, that a ban is ‘un-American,’” the campaign noted in the email.

The former president, who is skipping the debate for a Fox News town hall, has increased the attacks against Haley as she has risen in the polls and at times even overtaken DeSantis for second place.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Haley, though, touted her anti-illegal immigration stance Wednesday night as she defended herself. “When I was governor of South Carolina, we passed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country,” Haley said. She then reiterated the comments on X as the debate was in process.

DeSantis and Haley are battling to emerge as the chief alternative candidate to Trump ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Wednesday’s debate is likely the last chance the candidates have on a national stage to convince voters to support their campaigns.