They want the U.S.-Mexico border wall badly in parts of Trump country. So badly, in fact, that some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s supporters hope to see him declare what’s widely dismissed as a bogus state of emergency to build it the way he wants.
Trump first floated the idea of proclaiming a national emergency over border security last month, provoking objections about fabricating a crisis for political gain.
But among Trump loyalists like Al Burkett, a 65-year-old constable in staunchly Republican Alabama, it’s a palatable option, especially now that Trump has signalled he’ll sign a border-security spending bill that he publicly dislikes.
“Whatever it takes,” Burkett said from his home in Mobile, some 1,300 kilometres from the border. “Whatever it takes to stop this invasion. We definitely need a wall. It’s mandatory that we have the wall. Because these illegals are draining us dry of our resources.”
For an “invasion,” though, it hasn’t raised much concern in some border communities. The governor of California said this week he would withdraw most of the state’s 360 National Guard troops on the Mexico border so as not to partake in Trump’s “absurd theatrics.” And in El Paso, Texas, local officials balked at Trump’s claim that a border fence dramatically reduced crime, saying instead that “no crisis exists” in their city.
The bipartisan border-security package, which the House passed on Thursday night, will offer Trump only $1.375 billion for wall construction — far short the $5.7 billion he originally demanded. The president’s original price tag was urgent enough for him to trigger a partial government shutdown that lasted a record 35 days, tanking his approval ratings in the process.
As negotiator-in-chief this round, Trump seems resigned to defeat. On Tuesday, the president said of the deal: “I just got to see it. The answer is no, I’m not. I’m not happy.”
It’s no big surprise why. The $1.375 billion offer is even less than the $1.6 billion that Democrats offered Trump in December — before the shutdown.
The bill now awaiting Trump’s signature cover just 88 kilometres of new barrier. The wall Trump wants would run about 3,200 kilometres.
Burkett isn’t impressed.
“Is that enough? No, no,” he lamented. “It’s better than nothing, but I don’t think that’s enough.”
Al Burkett, 65, a constable in Mobile County, Ala., says he’s ‘unhappy’ with the bipartisan bill Trump is poised to sign, offering only $1.375 billion for wall funding. He says the president should do ‘whatever it takes’ to get the rest of the funding he needs, including declaring a state of emergency. (Submitted by Al Burkett)
The number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has declined over more than a decade, according to a Pew Research Center report published last November.
Other misconceptions in the immigration debate include that migrants are more prone to spreading infections. Research disputes that myth, while immigrants in general make up a substantial portion of the U.S. health-care workforce.
Undocumented immigrants are also statistically less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.
Not that the research matters to Burkett. He claims the situation at the border “isn’t armies coming across with guns and tanks, but it’s really about as bad.” He also believes illegal migrants are “probably bringing in diseases.”
Although Congress is offering Trump less than one-quarter of the funding he requested, Republican leaders say the president is poised to sign the bill anyway, with a view that he can declare an emergency to bypass Congress and divert existing funds to cover the wall’s expenses.
Burkett would accept that plan, despite the likely court challenges on the basis the border situation isn’t a real emergency.
“It’s a state of emergency to me,” Burkett offered.
If a wall won’t do the trick, he’s open to more extreme ideas.
“I wonder if you were to fly helicopters, and saw people fixin’ to go over, and you had a machine-gun down there — and not shooting there, but just ahead of them,” he said. “I wonder if that would turn them back.”
Trump expressed misgivings about the deal reached by congressional leaders on Tuesday, but did not outright reject signing the agreement. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Weeks ago, the prospect of calling a state of emergency over border security generated pushback from the conservative base, who were reminded of former president Barack Obama’s use of executive powers as a marker of “an imperial president,” said Rachel Bovard, the senior director of policy at the Conservative Partnership Institute in Washington, D.C.
The White House has since “done a great job of socializing” the national-emergency concept, she said, “making people feel more comfortable about it” as it built some academic support. Scholars argue it might survive a court challenge.
Still, some moderate Republicans recoil at the thought of the president pulling such a manoeuvre. Posing for photos outside the White House on Thursday, Kacey Countryman, a tourist from Kansas, grimaced when asked about the prospect of invoking an emergency.
“I think that would be a bad move. It sets a precedent,” she said. “Every time the president doesn’t get what he wants, even the next president, if they’re gonna throw the gauntlet down, they’re just gonna say, ‘Well, I’m just gonna call a national emergency.’ Do you really want to do that?”
Kacey Countryman, 45, stops in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. The tourist from Eureka, Kan., is a moderate Republican who believe it would be a ‘mistake’ for Trump to declare a state of emergency in order to get funds to build his wall. (Matt Kwong/CBC)
Republican strategist Ryan Stubenrauch expects most Republicans to be able to declare victory in some way. While the gap between $1.375 billion and $5.7 billion is big, he said, Trump can still say “the U.S. will be increasing border security and building his wall.”
John Ladd, a fourth-generation Arizona rancher whose southern fence straddles the border, is among the Trump supporters claiming a win.
He calls the president’s apparent willingness to sign the spending deal “a breath of fresh air.” Despite the limited amount of wall funds contained in the bill, Ladd expects a wall — or a significant part of it — to be erected.
“This is one of those things he promised. And he’s fulfilled quite a few of his campaign promises,” Ladd said from his property near Bisbee.
John Ladd, with Republican Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, says he often sees groups of illegal migrants on the ranch where he works near Douglas, Ariz., close to the U.S.-Mexico border. (Submitted by John Ladd)
Statistics show most hard drugs that enter the country are smuggled through legal ports of entry, a fact that a wall wouldn’t eliminate.
Ladd begs to differ. He says he’s seen from his kitchen window people climb the border fence, and he says he knows of migrants bringing heroin to the U.S.
“I live with this crap every day. It is a national emergency,” he said. “In my area, these are bad people. They’re not maids and housekeepers; they’re bad people running dope.”
Many of the people in a recent migrant caravan on the southern border are in fact families and refugees waiting to apply legally for asylum.
But Ladd says he’s seen enough tragedy befall friends at the hands of illegal migrants to know better. He doesn’t try to sway anyone on Trump’s handling of the immigration crisis. If a national emergency can build more of the wall, then so be it, he said, adding that polarized opinions on the border are “unchangeable.”
“When your agenda is so different than what a strong American philosophy should be,” he said, “it’s a waste of time trying to convince anybody about reality.”
from Update Trend News http://bit.ly/2DLWdAa
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