Well said. Congress has made a ruling that would allow the use of Military funds to build a border wall. If the President and government vote to- they can reallocate that money from wall construction to administration of the border. That would also end the ongoing lawsuits from multiple sources and free up time and money from that too. It’s a win win and a wise suggestion you have made. I’ll back you up. We should certainly redirect the proposed wall funds to administering border policy.
Or we can have both. POTUS already has authority to redistribute other funds (thanks Obama), don't know why people seem to think he'll back out of his biggest campaign promise just because half of Congress is trying to blame the crisis on him after he spent months pushing for something to be done about the crisis.
More immigration lawyers, a deal for Dreamers, and more secure borders.
The Wall by itself is nothing but good for America's security, nevermind how it will create work, stimulate the economy, and be an example of a politician actually keeping a major campaign promise.
I’m not a downvoter- but I do disagree. He was offered a deal for the money if he gave up the wall but didn’t take it. There is absolutely no reason to think the border wall will do anything meaningful for US security. As of 2018 the only public data available showed that 15 people with any ties to a terrorist organization were caught crossing the Mexico border since 2001. DHS estimates the #1 source of illegal entry to the US as those coming from countries other than Mexico via legal temporary visa and not leaving. At a ratio of more than 2:1 vs border crossings.
Walls appeal psychologically. “Wall big. Wall strong.” But the most heavily guarded border on earth sees its share of people get through and that’s with automated sentry cannons, land mines, all manner of lethal force and surveillance 24/7, and a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Yet at one point- a tunnel had been made and hidden for an unknown period of time that would have allowed tens of thousands of people to cross within a matter of hours or less. We know smugglers have the capability to avoid thermal imaging, radar, patrols, drones, satellites, motion detectors, fences, and all manner of other methods we use to watch the border- they’ve dig tunnels (walls aren’t good at stopping those,) used planes, boats, and even submarines (walls are also not good at stopping those..) so figuring out how to deal with a wall.. (hint: ladders are one solution that’s worked for millennia...) doesn’t seem so hard.
If you can’t afford to house and process the detainees you get without a wall- what do you do with the scores more you get of the wall actually works? Who watches the wall if we already lack the security force to see to their current duties and to prisoners and administration?
As for generating jobs.... paying people to do pro American or anti terrorist web postings would also generate jobs and if you have them use their own equipment the billions in building and maintaining a wall could go to paying more people. Is that a good idea? I think it’s a stupid idea- but we could also pay people to knit sweaters for turtles all year or put all the money into welfare of our only goals are to take tax money and use it to pay people, and to theoretically in some obscure and unproven or tested way improve domestic security. Or hell- use the money to hire more cops or special law enforcement to prevent crime on our soil. That one MIGHT actually work.
But I mean- saying “it generates jobs” is a bit of a cop out. Any government enterprise would generate jobs- it’s a question of wether multi billion dollars of tax money is going to the best place it could or not. The government could snipe eBay bids with tax money and donate what they win to charity if all they wanted to do was convert tax dollars into private income.
And once the wall is built what then? Do those new jobs that weren’t needed before the wall stick around, or with the wall complete do we MAYBE keep some to maintain the wall and then the rest are skilled workers in a business that without said pet project doesn’t need them? Then you have a flooded job market no?
And if we want to generate jobs through public works like they used to do- why don’t we fix crumbling roads, upgrade crumbling power infrastructure or lagging and aged telecom infrastructure? Why not build and finance schools which are run down and overcrowded, invest in our higher education so America can stay a leader in skilled technical workers and not be a nation of out of work construction workers walled in and broke?
Like- seriously. Of all the problems facing our country- of all the challenges in a global and competitive economy- the most pressing one is building a wall between us and Mexico to... give sub minimum wage farm and cleaning jobs back to Americans who already don’t want them...? We can’t maybe better use that money to increase education, health, I mean- the world wall market isn’t as strong as it was in 10AD- but there are other technologies that will be huge in the future. Maybe we could invest in one of those instead?
Visas are vetted. The wall is big and strong, enough to deter all but the desperate and ill-intentioned. The rest can be handled by sentry turrets, land-mines, motion-sensors, and simply turning away everyone who can't prove, at a legal point of entry, that they're being persecuted in their homelands.
One unvetted outsider bringing harm to the American people is unacceptable. Naturalized and born citizens alike can be dealt with in house.
Brother, I live in El Paso, I see the border everytime I hit the mall. Yesterday I damn near drove into Mexico by accident. Even within spitting distance of the Ready First Tank Division, the only thing between Mexico and the masses is a road, a dried out ditch, and maybe some matted down C-wire.
I get where you’re coming from- but what you are describing is quite literally the type of terrifying fascism America spent most of the 20th century fighting wars against. Listen to that out loud. “If you can’t present your papers when asked, you are to be detained as a potential enemy of the state, treated as an “outsider” and non citizen, and provided treatment based on your status as an enemy of the state and the resources we deem to allocate to your care- not an established humanitarian standard. You will be placed in a camp for processing and separated from your children and family for easier processing. You will not receive legal process until and unless we decide you deserve it. This is necessary to preserve our purity and security. Even one of these “less than us” people is too many, and it’s acceptable some mistakes and collateral damage will occur...”
I'm not talking a binder of papers. Just a valid ID and a good address at points of entry, or proof that every country they passed through would've killed them for religious or political reasons. We've got as many as 30 million aliens in the country, drastic measures are becoming necessary to keep us from losing control of our own country. See them fighting so hard against a citizenship question on the census that will ultimately reallocate electoral votes.
“Papers” doesn’t mean a binder of papers- it means “ID papers” which are in modern day- an ID with address etc, and traveling documents like a visa or passport.
Needing to have them and being thrown into internment without due process available as an assumed enemy of the state for not having them are not the same thing.
No suspected problem outside a war zone justifies ignoring every principal we have on criminal justice and human rights. If they declared war with Mexico, or even martial law along the border that STILL wouldn’t make it right- but it would possibly justify the actions as practical.
Comments
The Wall by itself is nothing but good for America's security, nevermind how it will create work, stimulate the economy, and be an example of a politician actually keeping a major campaign promise.
One unvetted outsider bringing harm to the American people is unacceptable. Naturalized and born citizens alike can be dealt with in house.
Brother, I live in El Paso, I see the border everytime I hit the mall. Yesterday I damn near drove into Mexico by accident. Even within spitting distance of the Ready First Tank Division, the only thing between Mexico and the masses is a road, a dried out ditch, and maybe some matted down C-wire.