Posted on 01/24/2018 7:25:31 AM PST by Kaslin
The Democrats' crusade to force a government shutdown in order to win permanent protections for "Dreamers" went down in flames Monday. The price extracted by Democrats was meager compared to what they wanted. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) merely agreed to allow a floor debate on immigration (which McConnell said he'd have done anyway). But this compromise does guarantee that we will now get a "clean" immigration debate, and therein lies an opportunity for a big win -- though President Trump may not like it.
Last week, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly angered the president in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier. Among Kelly's transgressions, he said that the president had been "uninformed" in his thinking about the wall during the campaign and that Trump's views had "evolved" beyond some mammoth monument on the southern border.
The president repudiated his chief of staff, saying on Twitter, "The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it."
It's true that the president's thinking on immigration has changed many times. He once favored a "deportation force" and a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
But Trump has said many times that the wall needn't be one contiguous barrier spanning the entire border. On the general idea, he's been implacable. And that's a problem.
There's a reason Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats are willing to trade initial funding or authorization for a wall in exchange for help on the Dreamer question. They understand that even under the best circumstances it will take years to build a wall, and many of them are already on the record for supporting beefed-up border security. And, if Democrats take back the House in 2018, they can turn the thing into a white elephant.
The problem with the wall is not necessarily that it's a bad idea. It's that it has become a symbol detached from policy considerations. An old friend of mine once had a painting company in college. Their unofficial motto was, "We may be slow, but we're expensive." That could be the motto of the wall, too.
Meanwhile, there are faster and more effective ways to deal with the problem of illegal immigration and the drugs "pouring" into our country, which mostly come through legal ports anyway.
Most serious immigration restrictionists favor enhanced border security and want some more physical barriers, but ultimately their support for the Trump wall is a political priority, not a policy one. They'd much rather see the president trade a Dreamer fix for cheaper and more effective solutions to the problem of illegal immigration, as well as reform of the legal immigration system. Top of the list: mandatory E-Verify, a program by which employers can check on the immigration status of job-seekers.
That's because the biggest driver of illegal immigration isn't on the supply side; it's on the demand side. Immigrants, legal and illegal, come to America primarily to work. They stay because their employers, many of them Republicans, don't care or don't ask about immigration status. Democratic politicians, particularly in sanctuary cities, want to keep it that way.
The wall, in theory, would stop illegal border crossings from Mexico, but it wouldn't do anything about people who come here legally and then simply overstay their visas -- about 42 percent of immigrants in the country illegally.
"Though there are parts of the border where better barriers are needed, universal E-Verify would probably do more to cut illegal immigration," Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, tells me. "It would weaken the jobs magnet, which is what attracts both border infiltrators and visa over-stayers -- the wall is irrelevant to over-stayers."
Unlike the wall, Krikorian notes, "E-Verify wouldn't cost much, if anything, since the IT infrastructure is already in place to handle all new hires."
If Trump wanted a clear -- and immediate -- win on illegal immigration, he'd evolve and recognize that the wall's greatest utility might be as a bargaining chip.
A version of E-Verify has been in place for almost 20 years.
No one pays attention to it.
The wall should be a bargaining chip...
No it shouldn’t...
It should be built...
The views of #NeverTrunpers like Goldberg are worthless and a waste of time. Who gives a sh*t what this bastard thinks?
This article is kidding right?
The wall.
Ixnay on chain and lottery.
No voting rights.
Anyone who thinks Trump caves is retarded.
NO .. no bargaining chip. A FACT! Then mess around with immigration. We’ve been promised this wall before and it never got built...they lied. Build the wall, then we talk.
Go away, Jonah, you never-Trumper loser!
Who’s the leader of the GOP
That’s made for you and me?
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Hey there! Hi there! Ho there!
You’re ticked off as is he
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Donald Trump!
Donald Trump!
He’s going to build a wall
High! High! High! High!
He’s come along to right some wrongs
And totally not PC!
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Donald Trump wins
Donald Trump wins
He’ll fix things and he’ll go places
He will make America Great Again
Who’s the leader of the GOP
That’s made for you and me?
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Hey there!, Hi there!, Ho there!
You’re ticked off as is he
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Donald Trump!
Donald Trump!
He’s going to build a wall
High! High! High! High!
He’s come along to right some wrongs
And totally not PC!
D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P
Go Trump - MAGA
Go Melania aka Lady MAGA
Pepe is pleased
The covfefe is against the wall
The covfefe is against the wall
Kek has a long moustache
Kek has a long moustache
Q is real
A bunch of crooks break into a bank (the US), face no penalty, and their kids not only get to keep the proceeds, they get to profit from it?
I don't see where they have a case.
Whatever 'bargain' is reached can't be bargained over safety and exclusion of illegals of all stripes.
It was a matter of security........security....not immigration.
Just read the title of the NR article. Author just doesn’t want the wall built. Come on! OK better enforcement means we can save the money. Does this mean the next Rat POTUS will enforce the laws? Just like the Chinese babies born on the island of Saipan. Ain’t gonna stop. Ulterior motives. Gotta stay one step in front and Trump knows it.
What part of the wall is non-negotiable do not these dim wits not understand?
Wrong again Jonah. The wall is not negotiable with Trump’s base. It’s his “no new taxes” and never Trumpers like Goldberg know it. It will stop the influx illegals rat voters cold.
Once an illegal is present and in-country, the lawless courts and corrupt cops will allow him to work, they will prevent his deportation, and they will look the other way when he votes.
Physical presence or absence in the country is the “possession” that is nine-tenths of the law.
ESAD Goldberg.
Jonah does not want a wall because he is a Cheap Labor Express propagandist.
He knows it would be effective.
A problem for you Jonah, not a problem for most Americans. The never ending attempts by #NeverTumpers to rationalize/bargain/wheedle out of building an effective wall are simply astounding.
Saipan has a big ocean between it and China. Doesn’t stop those with money from vacationing there while pregnant. No visas for those with-child? Trump should speak out on it and then watch the left howl. A least the fence sitters will open their eyes.
Hell, the dem's PROMISED border security to Ronald Reagan after his amnesty. It never happened...because democrats are liars and backstabbers...no movement on DACA until the wall is fully funded.
Trump is a real estate developer. It is impossible he doesn’t understand progress payments on construction projects.
My prediction: he will insist that Dreamer processing track wall completion, e.g. when 10% of The Wall is physically complete and operational, then 10% of Dreamers can have their paperwork processed. No wall, no money for Dreamer paperwork. Then it would become a matter of budget vigilance every year.
This is his ace in the hole. Otherwise, a wall bill is just another authorization bill with no incentive for Dems to actually fund it.
The Israelis traded land for peace - it predictably failed. Trump knows better than to trade something tangible and immediate (Dreamer legalization) for a promise of future performance (wall funding).
After 9/11 George W Bush REDUCED border and interior enforcement.
Not everyone agreed.
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