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« on: April 05, 2019, 12:29:36 AM » |
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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 4-3-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · The Border Policy Debacle — Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste
By Mark Alexander · Apr. 3, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/alexander/62176-the-border-policy-debacle-never-let-a-serious-crisis-go-to-waste
“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.” —George Washington1
When Donald Trump2 announced his candidacy on 16 June 2015, he made economic growth, fair trade, and border security/immigration reform3 the centerpieces of his campaign. In his now-familiar brash New York bravado, he declared, “I will build a great wall ― and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me ― and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall.”
After his election in November 2016, he clarified, “For certain areas I would [build a fence], but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate.”
On 25 January 2017, among his earliest initiatives as president, he signed Executive Order 13767, “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements4,” giving direction to the Department of Homeland Security as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enhance border barriers and security. He cited the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
DHS estimated the cost of secure barriers, walls, and fencing along our southern border to be $21 billion — substantially more than the Trump administration’s estimate. DHS also estimated the project would take three years to complete.
In February, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled a state visit to the White House, protesting, “Mexico does not believe in walls. I’ve said time again; Mexico will not pay for any wall.” Clearly not. Generations of American politicians have campaigned on curbing illegal immigration, but did little or nothing about it, believing it would be unpopular with Hispanic and Latino constituencies and bad for business. (In December 2018, Trump declared, “Mexico is paying for the wall because the trade deal is billions and billions of dollars better than the old NAFTA trade deal.”)
That was the beginning of the border debacle that now pits Trump against Democrat Party5 leaders who gave regular lip service to border security — until Trump made it a centerpiece of his presidential platform.
So, how did we arrive at the current deadlock?
Given that Trump cut deeply into blue-collar Democrat territory in 2016, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer adopted a strategy to flip-flop on border security in order to appease their Hispanic and Latino constituents. After years of advocating for border security6 on behalf of their lower- and middle-income constituents — because we all know that illegal immigration puts downward pressure on American workers’ wages — Democrat leaders have since calculated that the only way to defeat Trump is to redouble their appeal to Hispanics and Latinos. But Democrats don’t care about illegal immigrants and their children7 — beyond their usefulness as political fodder.
What followed was the rapid growth of so-called sanctuary cities8, leftist-controlled enclaves advocating open borders and protection from deportation, which naturally invited illegal immigrants to swarm the border. Just over a year into Trump’s administration, there were more than 500 declared sanctuary zones9. At the same time, Democrats encouraged the practice of anchor-baby citizenship10 to ensure a pipeline of future Hispanic voters.
In his 2018 State of the Union11, President Trump clearly articulated his immigration and border-security policy, and he condemned the Left’s flip-flop against American workers.
Fortunately for Democrats, they were able to surf the phony Trump/Russia collusion12 wave during the 2018 midterm elections13 and regain control of the House.
I note “fortunately for Democrats” because, as it turns out, the efficacy of their flip-flop on illegal immigration is not as clear as they’d hoped. Many legal and illegal immigrants in the U.S. now know what blue-collar American workers knew in 2016 — that illegal immigration puts downward pressure on their wages14.
In January, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that Hispanic and Latino approval of President Trump surged 19 points15 in just one month to 50%. A McLaughlin & Associates survey in March confirmed the January surge16.
Fortunately for the nation, the Demos’ fake collusion narrative, which provided them victory last November, is finally falling apart17.
But the Demo House majority has created much greater obstacles for Trump’s border and immigration policy objectives. He responded in late December with a partial government shutdown18, a flawed attempt to break the congressional logjam.
Responding to the shutdown, Pelosi declared, “The fact is, we all agree we need to secure our borders. … The fact is, the women and children at the border are not a security threat; they are a humanitarian challenge — a challenge that President Trump’s own cruel and counterproductive policies have only deepened.”
The fact is, Pelosi has that exactly backwards, and she knows it.
The Democrats have advertised to poor people in Central America that we have an open border19, and this has cruelly encouraged the caravans flooding north and overwhelmed border-security personnel20 with immigrants who have been coached to falsely claim asylum. Democrats have thus created the humanitarian and security crisis21 on our southern border.
On February 15, in another tactical move to break the border-policy deadlock, Trump signed an emergency declaration22 in order to bypass Congress and fund his border-security plan23. Emergency declarations have been issued more than 50 times24 by the last six presidents, and for matters far less urgent than this one.
The declaration calls for $8.1 billion from various sources, including $3.6 billion from DoD construction projects, $2.5 billion from DoD drug-interdiction funds, and $600 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.
According to Trump, “The law is 100% on my side.” And Georgetown constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, a Democrat, affirms that he is correct. According to Turley: “Congress expressly gave presidents the authority to declare such emergencies and act unilaterally. The 1976 National Emergencies Act gives presidents sweeping authority as well as allowance … to declare an ‘immigration emergency’ to deal with an ‘influx of aliens which either is of such magnitude … that effective administration of the immigration laws of the United States is beyond the existing capabilities’ of immigration authorities…. The basis for such an invocation generally includes the ‘likelihood of continued growth in the magnitude of the influx,’ rising criminal activity … and ‘other circumstances.’”
Predictably, Pelosi immediately responded with a legislative proposal to reject the declaration, which the president vetoed25, saying, “As President, the protection of the nation is my highest duty. Congress passed a dangerous resolution that, if signed into law, would put countless Americans in danger — very grave danger.”
Pelosi couldn’t muster the votes to override his veto, so the declaration stands. Undeterred, Schumer and Pelosi then issued memos to Demos and their Leftmedia echo chambers26 to parrot their talking point that Trump’s objective was to “manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.” And they all dutifully did just that.
On March 15, the president reiterated his defense of the declaration27, saying, “The situation at the southern border is rapidly deteriorating.”
And indeed it has continued to do so.
Here, then, is a current assessment of the crisis Pelosi and company28 manufactured on our southern border — in the name of political expedience.
According to former Obama Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson29: “When I was in office, in Kirstjen Nielsen’s job at her desk, I got to work around 6:30 in the morning and there’d be my intelligence book sitting on my desk — the PDP and also the apprehension numbers from the day before — and I would look at them every morning. It would be the first thing I looked at and I probably got too close to the problem. And my staff will tell you if it was under 1,000 apprehensions the day before, that was a relatively good number; and if it was above 1,000, it was a relatively bad number, and I was going to be in a bad mood the whole day. On [March 26] there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that 1,000 overwhelms the system and I cannot begin to imagine what 4,000 a day looks like. So we are truly in a crisis.” |
