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Support Continues to Grow for Trump’s Southern Border Wall
Several Congressional Democrats Now Supporting Trump’s Border Security Initiative
A pro-Trump border wall sign appears outside the Universal Life Church building on Route 1 in Monticello. photo/David Deschesne
By: David Deschesne
Fort Fairfield Journal, February 13, 2019
Despite Democrat Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi saying a border wall to protect the United States from terrorists and gang bangers is “immoral,” many Americans understand something must be done to stop gang members, drug smugglers and human traffickers from having free, unfettered access to the United States to play their illegal trades.
President Trump has been tirelessly advocating for a wall in select locations on the Southern border to help the U.S. Border Patrol in their efforts at keeping criminals and gangsters out of the country. The Administration requested $5.7 billion - about what the U.S. spends per day just on the interest on the National Debt alone - but leaders in the far left wing of the Democrat party has been stalling for fear that a wall might prohibit future, illegal, Democrat voters from entering the country.
In the last two years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested more than a quarter-million aliens with criminal records—including those charged with or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 murders.
While Democrat apologists may claim otherwise, the fact of the matter is criminals and terrorists can and do exploit our porous border on a daily basis. “The threat is real,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says—the number of individuals on the terror watchlist encountered at our Southern border has increased over the last two years.”
But the feds are working against hard-core Democrat strongholds in States that have so-called “sanctuary cities” where foreign criminals and gangsters are able to live under the protection of local governments and are free to ply their illegal trades of drug running and human trafficking. According to Adam Shaw, from Fox News, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested 118 illegal immigrants in New York in a five-day raid. “More than 107 of whom were convicted criminals or had pending charges against them -- and the agency slammed local politicians for protecting them and endangering the public.”
“Now that many sanctuary cities, including New York City, do not honor ICE detainers, these individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released onto the street, presenting a potential public safety threat,” ICE said in a press release.
While leftist Democrats have been stalling the border security initiative of the President, more and more Americans are of the opinion that border security does need to be increased.
A recent ABC/Washington Post poll shows that most Americans believe the Government is doing “too little” to stop illegal immigration—including 4 in 5 Republicans, more than a third of Democrats, and a majority of independents.
This isn't to say nobody from foreign countries can be allowed into the U.S. There already are programs and protocols in place for anyone who wants to legally immigrate to the United States, work here, live here, or become a citizen. Approaching Customs & Immigration for guidance and direction on how to attain their goals, and legally crossing at established Ports of Entry are how many foreigners are admitted to the United States. What's at issue here are those who want to skirt the border crossings, sneak into the country illegally and try to gain some sort of advantage - whether criminal or otherwise - without going through the proper legal channels. This type of person is usually one who has something to hide - such as illegal drugs, or human sex slaves - and does not want to expose themselves to the watchful eyes of Customs Agents at the Ports of Entry. These are the people President Trump wants to build a wall to keep out.
Mark Morgan, a Border Patrol chief under former Presidential Impersonator, Barrack Hussein-Obama, said he’s most frustrated by how children are brought into the country illegally under perilous conditions because coyotes (human smugglers) exploit vulnerabilities at the border . . . “I don’t understand why anyone would be against developing a process that stops that from happening.’”
Morgan isn't alone. “As a former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special agent on the southern border who fought sex trafficking for over a decade, I can say with certainty that the issue of the border wall should be not about power and partisan politics. It should be about the children – the tens of thousands of them who have been and are being trafficked into the U.S. and forced into the commercial sex trade,” Timothy Ballard wrote in an op-ed for Fox News.
“If Americans of all stripes call for safe and secure borders as part of common-sense immigration reform, why not give law enforcement the tools they need to do their jobs safely and effectively?” President Trump said in a White House press release. “That shouldn’t be controversial. Congress needs to put the concerns of American voters before those of special and political interests.”
In addition to a large segment of the American public seeking greater protections on the border, a growing number of Democrats understand that obstructing immigration reform would put them at odds with those Americans. In recent weeks, they’ve broken rank with their Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and have backed border security.
“Certainly you need barriers, and we support barriers,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) explains. Ditto Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA): “Where folks say we need additional barrier protections, I’m all for it.”
“Give Trump the money,” Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) says. “Why are we fighting over this?”
“There are gaps” along the border, Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) explains. “For many of us, there’s not really doubt that some kind of physical barrier is necessary.”
“I will vote for efforts to secure our Southern border that are done in an effective and efficient way,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) tweets. “And if that includes additional physical barriers, then I would support that.”
According to Deroy Murdock, from National Review, “A barrier between the Tucson, Ariz., sector and Nogales, Mexico, was erected in 2000. That year’s 616,346 arrests plunged to 38,657 in FY 2017 — down 93.7 percent.” That doesn’t just mean less illegal immigration. It means fewer potentially fatal encounters with smugglers and traffickers for our law enforcement officers, too.”
In the Washington Examiner, Eddie Scarry writes that U.S. Border Patrol agents recently apprehended both an MS-13 member and an attempted murderer near the U.S.–Mexico border. “Both incidents happened in the southernmost part of Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley sector of the border, where illegal crossings are more than three times that of any other sector and where agents told me they are in dire need of a physical barrier wall.”
“On any given day some 2,000 individuals attempt to come into our Country illegally,” Vice President Mike Pence said. “Every day that our border remains unsecured is a gift for human traffickers, drug cartels, and gang members—and a loss for Americans who believe the rule of law shouldn’t disappear at our doorstep.”