Trump Ready to Shut Down Government Over $18 Billion Wall
Ahead of today’s White House meeting on immigration, President Trump seems to be closing in on a demand to shut down the federal government unless they get $33 billion in border militarization funding, including $18 billion for Trump’s border wall. But as an important new story by Ron Nixon in the New York Times “To Pay for Wall, Trump Would Cut Proven Border Security Measures” reveals, a border wall would come at the direct expense and funding of approaches actually proven to strengthen border security.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice;
Donald Trump is demanding Congress support a $18 billion border wall to nowhere and seems increasingly ready to shut down the federal government over it. The border wall is not a serious policy idea. Rather, it’s a campaign applause line, an example of Trump’s insatiable quest for ego gratification, and would come at the direct expense of measures that actually improve border security. Responsible Republican lawmakers need to decide: are they really willing to blow up negotiations for Dreamers, undercut real border security, and shut down the government over Trump’s wasteful, unnecessary, and stupid border wall?
Below, find excerpts from Ron Nixon’s New York Times story “To Pay for Wall, Trump Would Cut Proven Border Security Measures”:
The Trump administration would cut or delay funding for border surveillance, radar technology, patrol boats and customs agents in its upcoming spending plan to curb illegal immigration — all proven security measures that officials and experts have said are more effective than building a wall along the Mexican border.
…Mr. Trump’s budget request for a wall represents more than half of the $33 billion spending blueprint for border security over the next decade. It either eliminates critical funding for border security programs or shifts money from them, threatening to leave gaping holes. A Government Accountability Office study released last February found that Customs and Border Protection has not shown how much fencing and walls bolster border security.
An internal budget guidance document for the 2019 fiscal year shows that the White House Office of Management and Budget asked officials at the Homeland Security Department to reduce or delay funding requests for additional border security technology and equipment. Instead, the document instructed, Homeland Security should dramatically increase funding for a wall on the Mexico border.
…The cuts include money for a remote video surveillance system in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, an area known for high numbers of border crossings and drug smuggling. The system is composed of infrared cameras mounted on poles, towers and buildings, allowing Border Patrol agents to track attempted smuggling and border crossings.
In the internal document, the White House budget office called the surveillance system important but said its funding requests were lowered “to offset the costs of presidential priorities not funded in the D.H.S. request.”
Customs and Border Protection faces several cuts.
Its $7.9 million request for technology upgrades to its P-3 surveillance aircraft — which operates thousands of miles beyond American borders to track narcotics being shipped from Colombia, Peru and other drug producing countries — was denied. In 2016, the latest data available, the P-3 aircrews contributed to 145 drug seizures, helping American and foreign authorities capture a combined 34,108 pounds of marijuana and 193,197 pounds of cocaine.
The internal document also suggested delaying a request to buy 15 new Coastal Interceptor boats to catch drug smugglers. The agency had sought nearly $15 million to replace its aging fleet to keep up with drug smugglers’ smaller, faster boats.
It also would cut nearly 200 of the 500 canine units that customs officials say play a key role in programs to prevent terrorism and drug smuggling. The dogs’ handlers would then be reassigned to ports on the southwest border to help with staffing shortages.
…Perhaps most significantly, the proposed budget would not fund the hiring of new customs officers — the agents who denied 200,000 people from entering the United States at ports of entry in fiscal 2017 and who stopped 600,000 pounds of drugs, including cocaine, heroin, meth and fentanyl. Customs officers also intercepted nearly $70 million in illicit currency, much of it headed back across the border to fill the coffers of Mexican drug cartels.
Experts said the absence of hiring funds could potentially have the most impact on border security; the agents form a crucial line of defense against smugglers and terrorist threats.
