BY DANIEL SAENZ
Earlier this week, the President addressed the nation in a speech where he declared that there is a border crisis, which means that the United States must build his wall.
President Trump’s main selling point since the election of 2016 was that the United States needs to build a wall on the border with Mexico in order to stem the problem of illegal immigration. As of now, the government has been shut down for nearly three weeks, as Democrats and Republicans could not agree on a budget.
Republicans wanted the new budget to include funding for the wall while Democrats refused as the wall had never been agreed on. In his speech, Trump declared, “ I have met with dozens of families whose loved ones were stolen by illegal immigrants. I have held the hands of the mothers and embraced the grief-stricken fathers,” he said. “I will never forget the pain in their eyes, the tremble in their voices, and the sadness gripping their souls.”
The Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, disagree with such an argument. Pelosi of California said in a speech next to Schumer of New York, “The president has chosen fear; we want to start with the facts.” Summer added, “This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.”
There have now been several attempts at negotiating, much to no avail. Republican and Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has now been adamant that he will not allow any legislation that he knows the President will not be on board with. In the most recent meeting with the Democratic leaders, Trump allegedly stormed out of the room once he realized they would not meet his demands. Trump has been even more adamant than McConnell stating that if worst comes to worst, he will allow the government to remain shut down for months, even years.
Leftist Democrats such as Bernie Sanders, however, have been trying to highlight the employment side of the shutdown. There are at least 800,000 workers who are furloughed. In other words, they are working without receiving their paychecks. In fact, it has been reported that TSA employees are beginning to use their sick days and work side jobs to keep up with expenses. So much so that airports are starting to use pre-9/11 levels of security. It is also estimated that millions of people on food stamps will also lose their benefits if the shutdown goes on for too long.
However, Trump has refused to yield. While acknowledging that the federal employees are enduring hardship, he maintains that this is all for the greater good and security of our border. Trump has now gone to the Texas border to bolster support for the wall.
Frustrated with the process, Trump has now stated he will probably declare a state of emergency to bypass Congress and unilaterally use the military to build the wall. Regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum, there should be a general agreement that such a move would damage our constitutional order and that compromise should be made in order to reopen the government as quickly as possible.