Barriers to Cooperation

The president gave an address to the nation Tuesday night that lasted less than 10 minutes.

 I tuned in just as Fox cut away from announcing the event. Afterwards the Democrats gave a 5 minute or so rebuttal. Since then I’ve heard the address (the President’s) described as ‘effective’ from supporters and ‘alarmist’ from detractors. Those are my summations and not actual quotes but the two sides are hardening on this. The shutdown is getting close a month old and the country is no longer closer to an agreement on funding.  

Let’s recap. Congress does the budget every year about this time. Or at least they fund some parts of it. Last year the president wanted a wall but avoided a veto because officially the military would lose out on funding. I always thought that sounded like cover from some crafty politicos to tell Trump’s base as to why he didn’t get the money. Paul Ryan was hard against it anyway. 

When the Democrats say Trump should have done this last year, they’re right. He had more votes in theory at least. In either case the border issues had to be settled. This is the year for the border security and a “big beautiful wall” is the centerpiece of his campaign. He couldn’t exactly walk away with some half measures like additional drones. Washington DC does not want this wall. The Republican led House couldn’t make it happen last year and Democrats are less likely to.

President and Congress might have backed themselves into a corner. But it always looks that way when a shutdown is underway, who is going to blink? I do think we need a wall but at this point it feels more like the president needs a ‘win’ more than he needs the wall. Trump isn’t asking for much, a portion of the wall and 5 billion to do it. This is chump change for a 3 trillion dollar budget. Trump has threatened to declare an emergency and make the Army build it. That’s a mistake, an overreach. It’s likely a tactic to make the Democrats back off. I think he can make a strong law and order case to the American people and get the funding.

When large numbers of poor people desperate for work, escaping dangerous conditions travel they make themselves targets for smugglers. Those long treks are difficult for children and often they die of starvation or lack of water. Women become targets of rape and abuse at high rates. The president pointed this out in his address. For some, the argument about dangerous conditions and treacherous crossing is proof of the type of environment they’re coming from. "Who would undertake such a journey?" I’m sympathetic to that but countries do have a right to protect their borders. Should we stop bothering with a customs and enforcement department at all? A country without borders isn’t a country.

The biggest reason for the wall is the sheer amount of people coming in illegally. That increases the stress on social safety like welfare, law enforcement. Trump called the problem at the border a ‘crisis’. I don’t know what determines if it’s a crisis but not knowing who is in the country, to the tune of 12 million people is a problem. A wall is one part of a broad strategy to regulate traffic at the southern border. The border patrol, immigration’s courts for asylum and détente with Mexico are some of the other things. On the last point, Mexico offered a quick asylum process and jobs to members of the caravan in December. Most turned down the offer but at least it was on the table. 

 Mexico could stop most of the crossings by choking off the flow at their southern border. I’m not sure how they regulate their borders but clearly they aren’t doing enough. Their new president (Obrador) is at least making noise about keeping migrants in Mexico to apply for asylum in the US. This is the way it’s supposed to work. Anyone escaping a country for any reason has to apply for asylum in the first country they visit. The cases are backlogged in the US and most won’t get approved, but it constitutes an orderly affair.

For all Trump’s angry tirades and criticism of Mexico, Congress, MS-13 and crime in general, he has one solid point. This illegal immigration issue should have been settled years ago. American citizens can be forgiven for not trusting their government to strictly enforce border control. The big immigration bill from 1986 (Simpson-Mazzoli) failed to prevent future crossings. Illegals were given temporary status which, following employment rules could be upgraded to citizenship. The bill was supposed to punish businesses that hired illegals but never did. So it basically just amounted to amnesty and not much else. 

When George W Bush tried the same thing in 2007 the attempt fell flat. Enough Americans didn’t want the amnesty portion to go through while the border enforcement stuff got purposely left out. Bush’s plan awarded the trophy before the race; it never stood a chance.

 There are too many unguarded spots and vast stretches of land where a wall, or barrier, or fence can work. Border patrol agents largely support building more fencing because it makes their job easier. We should trust their judgement on this.

   

Let’s talk about worker programs and visas after the border is secure, not before then.