Univision anchor Jorge Ramos thinks President Donald Trump’s border wall would be nothing more than a “symbol of hate and racism” for “those who want make America white again.”
In a Wednesday New York Timesop-ed, Ramos notes that Trump “is not the first president to ask for money for a wall.” He points out that former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush “built fences and walls along the southern border” while former President Barack Obama “maintained the resulting system of roughly 700 miles of physical barriers.”
“So why don’t we want Mr. Trump to build his wall? What is different?” Ramos asks. “The difference is that Mr. Trump’s wall is a symbol of hate and racism, it would be completely useless, and it does not address any national emergency.”
Ramos, who said the United States has a responsibility to “absorb” caravan migrants, says the fight against the border wall “is about more than just a wall.”
“The wall has become a metaphor to Mr. Trump and his millions of supporters,” he writes. “It represents a divide between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ a physical demarcation for those who refuse to accept that in just a few decades, a majority of the country will be people of color.”
Ramos accuses Trump of trying to “exploit the anxiety and resentment of voters in an increasingly multicultural, multiethnic society” with his promise of a border wall, which Ramos says is nothing more than “a symbol for those who want to make America white again.”
“The chant ‘Build that wall, build that wall’ became his hymn — and an insult not just to Latinos but also to all people who do not share his xenophobic ideals,” Ramos continues. “The wall went from a campaign promise to a monument built on bigoted ideas. That is why most Americans cannot say yes to it. Every country has a right to protect its borders. But not to a wall that represents hate, discrimination and fear.”
He concludes by arguing that Trump “is the wall” because “the concept of America as an unwelcoming country to immigrants and uncomfortable for minorities is already here.”
President Donald Trump walked out of a White House meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after they made it clear they were not willing to negotiate with Republicans to reopen the government and fund construction of a border wall.
“Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump asked Nancy Pelosi if she would bring up a vote for border security within 30 days if he signed a bill to reopen the government.
According to Trump, Pelosi said, “No.”
“I said bye-bye, nothing else works!” Trump wrote.
Vice President Mike Pence noted that Democrats remained unwilling to negotiate a deal with the president and confirmed Trump’s account of the meeting.
“When she said no, the president said, ‘goodbye,’” Pence recalled.
Pence urged Americans to call their representatives to get them back to the table.
“The door here at the White House is wide open,” he said.
Congressional Republicans confirmed the account after the meeting, noting that Schumer and Pelosi refused to commit to any funding for a wall within 30 days, even if the government was reopened.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that the president was in a good mood and wanted to make a deal with Democrats.
“He even brought a little candy for everybody,” he said.
But McCarthy said Pelosi refused to acknowledge the border crisis and that Schumer raised his voice while addressing the president.
“Their behavior is embarrassing to me,” McCarthy said, accusing them of lying about the nature of the meeting. He added that the media should bring their cameras into the next meetings so that everyone could see for themselves the nature of the conversations.
Pelosi and Schumer also spoke to reporters after the meeting.
“It’s cold out here and the temperature wasn’t much warmer in the Situation Room,”Pelosi said with a shiver, speaking to reporters outside the White House.
Schumer said that the president slammed the table in anger, a claim that Republicans disputed. Schumer said he felt like Trump’s behavior was “unbecoming of the presidency.”
Photo by: Daniel Ochoa de Olza
A Border Patrol officer holds a baby as he helps a migrant to go down after they jump the border fence to get into the U.S. side to San Diego, Calif., from Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018. Discouraged by the long wait to apply for asylum through official ports of entry, many migrants from recent caravans are choosing to cross the U.S. border wall and hand themselves in to border patrol agents. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
By Stephen Dinan
Border authorities are referring 50 people a day for urgent medical care, including tuberculosis, flu and even pregnant women about to give birth, a top official said Monday, saying it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.
Most of those in need of care are children, and a staggering 28 percent are under age 5, having been dragged along for the trip by parents who in many cases are hoping to use the children as a shield against speedy deportation from the U.S.
The numbers were released after a full review was done of all children in the custody of Customs and Border Protection in the wake of two illegal-immigrant children who died in U.S. hospitals in December.
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said most of those needing help were ill when they arrived at the border, and some appear to have made the initial decision to leave even while ailing.
“Many were ill before they departed their homes,” the commissioner said. “We’re talking about cases of pneumonia, tuberculosis, parasites. These are not things that developed urgently in a matter of days.”
Democrats have already dropped hints of what their response to President Donald Trump’s address Tuesday evening from the Oval Office on the border crisis will be.
The networks have granted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) airtime to respond. Their message will be that there is no crisis that merits building a barrier on the border. The only crisis, to them, is the partial government shutdown.
As Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)said last week, responding to the suggestion Trump may declare an emergency so he can order the military to build the barrier: “There is no national emergency on the southern border.” He described the idea as “stealing resources from the Defense Department.”
The real solution to what he called the “complex issues at our southern border” — which are not an emergency, mind you — is “comprehensive immigration reform.”
The idea that there is no crisis at the border will be a tough sell, especially as Democrats and the media described the situation as a crisis last summer, when the Trump administration started enforcing its “zero tolerance”policy toward illegal crossings that resulted — thanks to existing rules dating to the Obama administration — in children being separated from adults. Pelosi even questioned “why there aren’t uprisings all over the country” about it.
To Democrats, the only “crisis” — aside from the government being partially closed for two weeks — results from the enforcement of existing laws at the border. To resolve that “crisis,” they want to pass more laws — which, they insist, include provisions for “border security,” though they do not want to enforce the laws already on the books.
Here are some other arguments Democrats will likely use, based on their statements over the past several days.
1. Trump is a liar.“I expect the president to lie to the American people,”said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the new chair of the House Judiciary Committee, during a visit to the border yesterday. (Nadler added: “There’s no security crisis at the border.”) Nadler echoed the CNN line, which is that the president’s speeches should not enjoy live coverage because he might say inaccurate things — a problem journalists never had with President Barack Obama.
2. Border walls and fences do not work.This is another weak argument, since many House and Senate Democrats — including Schumer — voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Other variants of this argument is that a wall would be “immoral” (Pelosi) and “racist” (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)). However, given examples of walls or fences to stop migrants in the European Union, Israel, and even Botswana, these arguments are also easily defeated.
3. Trump’s $5 billion proposal is wasteful. This is a tough argument to sustain after Democrats’ own proposals to end the partial shutdown and re-open the government. Democrats want “over $12 billion more in foreign aid than the Trump administration requested,”according to Breitbart News’ Rebecca Mansour. Democrats also asked for a combined $10 billion in extra funding for the United Nations and other supposed priorities. $5 billion is nothing.
4. Mexico should be paying for it. Democrats have been taking potshots at the president for months by reminding him of his refrain from the campaign trail in 2016. Trump has argued that Mexico is paying for the wall through its concessions on trade. But the U.S. could also tax remittances Mexican workers in the U.S. send home, or raise fees for crossing the border. There are many ways to collect in future, if needed; what the wall needs is a down payment.
5. Government shutdowns are wrong.This used to be a winning argument for Democrats — until they shut down the government themselves last year in an effort to force President Trump and the Republicans to legalize the so-called “Dreamers,” i.e. illegal aliens brought to the country as minors. The contrast also works in favor of Trump: Democrats shut down the government to protect illegal aliens, while the president is doing so to protect Americans.
The fact is that the Democrats’ best and only case against the border wall is that Trump proposed it. They know if he fails to deliver on his core campaign promise, he will lose his voter base. And they know if he buckles and re-opens the government without the funding he wants, they can walk all over him for the next two years.
What they may not realize is those reasons also make him stronger: he cannot compromise, therefore he has the advantage.
“Once again we have had a violent mob of migrants attempt to enter the United States illegally by attacking our agents with projectiles.”
The migrants gathered at the San Diego sector of the United States border with Mexico on New Year’s Eve tried to force their way over the barrier. When turned back by Customs and Border Patrol agents, some in the group started throwing rocks and attempted to push children over the barbed wire atop the barrier.
“Once again we have had a violent mob of migrants attempt to enter the United States illegally by attacking our agents with projectiles,” Katie Waldman, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said. “The agents involved should be applauded for handling the situation with no reported injuries to the attackers.”
The CBP website, like many other federal agency websites, has a banner explaining that because of the partial government shutdown, it is not being regularly updated. But on Tuesday a statement was posted about the violence:
The following is based on initial operational reporting. Last night, approximately 150 migrants attempted to illegally enter the United States by climbing over and crawling under border fence in San Diego Sector. Due to CBP’s increased presence, a first group of 45 turned back towards Mexico. Shortly thereafter, migrants began throwing rocks over the fence at the CBP agents and officers. Several teenagers, wrapped in heavy jackets, blankets and rubber mats were put over the concertina wire. Border Patrol agents witnessed members of the group attempt to lift toddler sized children up and over the concertina wire and having difficulty accomplishing the task in a safe manner. Agents were not in a position to safely assist the children due to the large number of rocks being thrown at them.
To address the rock throwers assaulting agents and risking the safety of migrants attempting to cross who were already on the U.S. side, both smoke and minimal countermeasures were deployed. Agents deployed smoke, pepper spray and CS gas to a position upwind of the rock throwers and south of the border fence. The deployments were not directed at the migrants attempting entry on the U.S. side or at the fence line. The rock throwers were located south of the fence, in an elevated position both above the border fence area and the incursion attempt.
The statement said the “countermeasures” were directed only at those attacking the agents and were deployed in a manner that would not threaten other migrants in the area.
The Associated Press reported injuries in the crowd, but CPB denied that claim.
“No agents witnessed any of the migrants at the fence line, including children, experiencing effects of the chemical agents, which were targeted at the rock throwers further away,” the statement said.
The statement said agents successfully turned back the rock throwers and that 25 arrests were made during the unrest.
“Under CBP use of force policy, this incident will be reviewed by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility,” the statement concluded.
As Breitbart News reported in November, under the Obama administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) law enforcement officials, including Border Patrol agents, utilized tear gas against migrants at or near the border at least 80 times between FY2012 and early FY2017.
On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN Right Now,”Representative Anthony Brown (D-MD) said the border wall funding issue should be moved to February, and declared that there will not be movement on a border wall “unless it’s part of a comprehensive immigration reform.”
Brown stated, “[W]hat we’re suggesting is, we have a controversial issue around the president’s border wall, which we reject. Let’s isolate that issue. Let’s move it to February 8, give us some breathing room, so we can open up the rest of government.”
He later added, “Well, we’re not going to move on [a] border wall unless it’s part of a comprehensive immigration reform.”
Once Democrats take over the House on January 3, they are planning to pass a government funding bill without any money for the border wall. President Donald Trump shows no sign of caving as shutdown continues, however.
As the impasse between Trump and the Democrats shut down parts of the federal government and forced some 800,000 workers to stay home or work without pay, the incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) vowed the president would never get his wall.
Once Pelosi returns from her vacation in Hawaii and gets sworn in, she intends to have the House approve a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security until February and not include a penny for the border wall, the New York Times reported citing congressional staff.
Even if the Republican-majority Senate agrees to this – which the leadership has shown no sign of wanting to do – the question will come up again in just a few weeks. Democrats mean to use this to push for broader immigration reform and demonstrate they are the responsible party, according to the Times.
“We’ve got to really learn how to play jujitsu with the president and figure out how to take the wall issue and show the American people that we are the modern party who will actually secure the border and also be for a compassionate immigration system that recognizes the benefits of immigration and diversity,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), said in an interview Monday.
Unwilling or unable to pick one objection to Trump’s border wall proposal, they have panned it as “immoral, ineffective and expensive” as well as “fifth-century technology.”
Trump, who campaigned on building a “big, beautiful wall” on the border with Mexico, showed no sign of backing down, however. While Democrats went on vacation, he stayed at the White House and tweeted up a storm, only taking a break for a surprise trip to Iraq and Germany to visit US troops overseas.
In one of the tweets on Monday, Trump reminded Democrats they have voted in favor of a border barrier twice before.
“You voted yes in 2006 and 2013. One more yes, but with me in office,” he wrote. “I’ll get it built, and Fast!”
He also mocked the Democrats’ claim that walls are old technology, quipping “but so is the wheel.”
Trump and the Democrats have clashed over border funding before, resulting in a brief government shutdown in January 2018. At the time, Trump proposed a sweeping amnesty for children brought into the US illegally and their relatives in return for wall funding and immigration reforms. Democrats rejected it, however, and eventually prevailed in getting an omnibus spending bill that ignored immigration altogether, setting the stage for the December 2018 showdown.
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No issue encapsulates the weakness of republicans and their simultaneous adherence to the UniParty position on illegal immigration more than the aftermath of illegal aliens killing U.S. citizens. No-one ever forces democrats to own the consequences to their position; it is very frustrating.
No other issue is as easy to frame, and supported by the majority of American voters, as the issue of illegal alien impacts on local communities. Yet, we never see republican politicians making democrats own and defend these toxic negative outcomes. The reason is likely because both wings of the UniParty benefit from massive lobbying to keep the problem in place.
CTH has tracked this issue so closely through the years it often feels futile for another reminder. However, with the insufferable political games surfacing, yet again, over the issue of illegal aliens – perhaps it is worth another visit.
Understanding The Big Racket.
Massive illegal immigration is supported by both sides of the professional political machine. There are few issues more unifying for the K-Street purchased voices of DC politicians than keeping the borders open and the influx of illegal aliens as high as possible. The U.S. Chamber of Commercepays politicians to keep this system in place.
All Democrats and most Republicans support mass immigration. Almost no DC politicians want to take action on any policy or legislation that stops the influx. There are billions at stake. None of the GOP leadership want to actually stop illegal immigration; it’s a lucrative business. Almost all of the CONservative groups and politicians lie about it.
The religious right is also part of the problem. In the past 15 years illegal immigration and refugee settlement has been financially beneficial for them. The prior actions of Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck et al show they are as committed to facilitating illegal immigration as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Kevin McCarthy, Lisa Murkowski and the rest of the Decepticons.
Washington DC and the activist media, are infested with illegal immigration supporters; the issue is at the heart of the UniParty. Follow the money. It’s the Acorn model:
There is no greater disconnect from ordinary Americans on any singular issue than the policy positions of Democrats and Republicans in Washington DC surrounding immigration. President Donald Trump is confronting their unified interests.
All political opposition to the Trump administration on this issue is structured, planned and coordinated. The issue is a valuable tool for the professional political class to sow chaos amid politicians.
The resulting crisis is useful for them; therefore they fuel the crisis.
Through June 2018, Southwest Key was given $310,000,000, in taxpayer funds. That’s just one company, in one part of a year. Prior CTH research showed this specific “Private Company”nets 98.76% of earnings from government grants (link).
Today … [Houston Mayor Sylvester] Turner said he met with officials from Austin-based Southwest Key Programs, the contractor that operates some of the child shelters, to ask them to reconsider their plans. A spokeswoman for Southwest Key didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
“And so there comes a point in time we draw a line and for me, the line is with these children,” said Turner during a news conference Tuesday. (link)
“The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. “Toddlers are being detained.” (link)
“Faith Based Immigration Services” is a code-speak for legalized human smuggling.
Human smuggling is big business. If you dig in to the IRS 990 forms you’ll see a lot of, well, “generous” wage/benefit perks. Golf, florists, cafe’s, mysterious leases, land purchases, third party mortgages, $$$ Spouses on the payroll, etc.
So when you’ve got each individual immigration business making multi-hundreds of millions; and politicians getting kick-backs (lobbyists); and bribes to Mexican government officials; and payments to smugglers;who do you think actually wants the business to stop?
The “faith-based” crew (Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck, etc.) don’t want it to stop, because facilitating illegal alien import is now the financial bread and butter amid groups in their base of support. The man/woman in the pew might not know; but the corporation minister, preacher or priest (inside the process) surely does.
The Wall Street, big GOPe, U.S. Chamber of Commerce crew doesn’t want it to stop because they benefit from it (cheap labor), and the taxpayers -not them- are the ones funding it.
Sad thing is, it’s you and me that are paying the South American human smugglers through U.S. taxpayer funds. Laundered through the immigration business bagmen at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and/or, U.S. Catholic Charities, or Southwest Key Programs Inc; or Baptist Child and Family Services Emergency Management Division (BCFS-EMD), just to name a few.
These immigration groups, get *MASSIVE* HHS grants and then pay-off the DC politicians and human smugglers, including MS13. Billions of dollars are spent, and the business has exploded in the past six years.
It’s a vicious cycle. Trafficked children are more valuable than adults because the organizations involved get more funding for a child than an adult. Each illegal alien child is worth about $56,000 in grant money. The system is full of fraud.
From our prior research approximately 65% of the money they get is spent on executive pay and benefits, opaque administrative payrolls, bribes, kick-backs to DC politicians and payoffs to the South American smugglers who bring them more immigrants.
As best it can be determined, approximately 35% ($19,000) is spent on the alien/immigrant child; maybe. It gets sketchy deep in their accounting.
All of those advocates gnashing their teeth and crying on television have no idea just who is controlling this process; and immigration idiots like Ted Cruz are only adding more fuel, more money, to the bottom line:
"This has to stop," Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said when asked about the separation of migrant families at the border in his state.
He'll also be introducing legislation "that will mandate that kids must stay with their parents." pic.twitter.com/2j0Z515d88
President Trump is not only threatening to secure the border, he’s threatening a Washington DC-based business model that makes money for a lot of interests. The operation also has side benefits for the participants; child sexploitation, child labor, and yes, much worse (you can imagine).
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