I commend President Trump for his Oval Office speech to the nation last night on the need for border security. He did not declare a national state of emergency (yet), but laid out the sound reasons why we must secure our southern border. The only thing I wished he had added was a statement about the fact that people from other parts of the world (like the Middle East, Pakistan, etc) were also using our border with Mexico to enter illegally. Yet, I think he effectively made his case to the American people and should have swayed many of those who are on the fence (no pun intended).
The response from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer was disingenuous at best. They basically stated that the government should be re-opened and then they can negotiate border security. Past experience shows that Trump would be taken for a ride. The Democrats will not give Trump anything close to what he wants. Passing a budget without border wall funding is nothing but a trick.
It is possible that Trump's speech will turn public opinion in his favor on this issue, which might force the Democrats to compromise. If not, Trump should use whatever means at his disposal to start building that wall. It's not just poor people coming from Mexico and Central America looking for jobs. It is also about gangs, drug traffickers, human traffickers, and Islamic terrorists taking advantage of a porous border.
That is not a "manufactured crisis". That is a crisis.
Even if I agreed that our biggest security risk was people crossing the border, I would STILL think that this wall is a stupid idea. What about the border area that's private land? How will we maintain it? Unless we have guards stationed all over it, there will always be people getting over (and under) with ladders, ropes, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn 20 years, we'll have a crumbling mess.
And wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for it?
Idiocy. That's what this is. If it ever gets built, it will be a monument to stupidity.
It was unwise for TRump to continuously claim that Mexico would pay for it, not to mention a diplomatic blinder. It appears they will "pay" for it out of increased revenue we get from the re-negotiated NAFTA.
ReplyDeleteThere are already stretches that have walls and fences, so we don't need 2,000 miles of new wall, just at strategic points plus more BP agents and technical devices.
But you cannot say a wall has zero effectiveness. The Israelis built a wall because Palestinian terrorists were coming over and blowing up buses and stores killing scores of people. They have reduced that to a minimum.
I would be curious to know how you would secure our border. Stupidity is doing nothing and continuing the status quo.