Trump warns illegal immigration is 'growing crisis'
January 9, 2019
Donald Trump has called a border wall with Mexico "absolutely critical" to national security, in an address to the nation amid a contentious government shutdown. Democrats have accused Trump of holding the US "hostage."
Image: Getty Images/C. Barria-Pool
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President Donald Trump has made a prime-time appeal to US citizens in an attempt to convince them of the humanitarian and security crisis on the southern border with Mexico.
In an unusually measured voice, Trump said there was a "growing humanitarian and security crisis" at the US-Mexico border and said a border wall was "absolutely critical" to national security. To support his claims, he listed off several graphic examples of crimes attributed to "illegal aliens," as noted by Toronto Star Washington correspondent Daniel Dale.
The president, who repeated his demand for $5.7 billion (5 billion euros) in funding for a border wall, said he was urging Democrats to return to the White House to meet with him, saying it was "immoral" for "politicians to do nothing."
However, the president stopped short of declaring a national emergency, which could have led to the project being funded by bypassing Congress.
In a rebuttal by the Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president should stop holding the country "hostage" with the ongoing partial government shutdown. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed that they supported stronger border security, but not an "expensive and ineffective" border wall.
"The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall," said Schumer. He accused Trump of using the Oval Office to "manufacture a crisis," and called on him to sign bills that would reopen the government while negotiations over border security went ahead.
Pelosi: Shutdown full of 'misinformation and malice'
Trump made the speech on the 18th day of the shutdown over funding for his most famous campaign promise, the wall on the border between the US and Mexico. In her speech, Pelosi called the shutdown "senseless" and said it has been full of "misinformation and malice" from the president.
Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, claimed recently he could relate to those going without pay and unable to buy groceries or make rent and utilities payments, but said they will have to "make adjustments."
The country's national parks and judicial system have also been thrown into chaos over the fight, which shows no signs of abating. Trump has in recent days said that the shutdown could go on "for years." The president has specifically tried to paint Democrats as the belligerent party, labeling them as obstructionists.
Democrat leaders have insisted that Trump forget the issue of the wall for now and reopen the government instead. Although Democrats have said they would be willing to give the president $1.6 billion (€1.4 billion) for border security, he has insisted he will accept nothing less than the $5 billion he is asking for, even going so far as to demand $5.7 billion in recent days.
The administration has claimed the situation at the US-Mexico border has reached a crisis point, but opponents say this is not the case, and that the worsening situation is the result of Trump's shutdown tactics.
The president's remarks were also aimed at another group of viewers. Increasingly, Republicans are concerned about the long-term political ramifications of the fight on their own popularity, and by extension their re-election chances in 2020.
President Joe Biden's government is facing a shutdown if the Republican Congress doesn't approve the budget for the coming fiscal year. DW looks at how shutdowns started, when they became partisan and how much they cost.
Image: Getty Images/D. Angerer
Sundown shutdown
As midnight approaches on September 30, it's go time for Congress: Approve a budget before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, or shut down the government. Originally, Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution required lawmakers to approve the budget. Honing it further in 1870, the Antideficiency Act targeted agencies that spent money without asking. But deadlines were often missed.
Image: picture-alliance/CNP/A. Edelma
No money, no pay, no work
At the behest of President Jimmy Carter, the US attorney general revisited the Antideficiency Act in 1980 to answer the question: "Without a budget, are government employees required to work?" According to his Attorney General's legal opinion, no money meant no work. Carter's presidency saw only small shutdowns, but the new interpretation of the law turned shutdowns into a negotiating tactic.
Image: picture alliance / Everett Collection
Ronald Reagan and the first shutdown
The first real shutdown — more than 240,000 workers furloughed, more than $80 million (€65 million) down the drain — occurred in November 1981. President Ronald Reagan refused to sign a budget without billions in tax cuts. The Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House found a solution the next day. This happened seven more times by his last year in 1989.
Image: AP
Bill Clinton and the rise of the partisan shutdown
Budget impasses were largely drama-free until 1995, when President Bill Clinton faced off against Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (pictured left). The Republican-led Congress wanted a balanced budget within seven years, higher Medicare premiums and rollbacks on environment regulations. It took 27 days in total to strike a deal. The cost: at least $1 billion.
Image: POOL/AFP/Getty Images
A game for Congress, a headache for the agencies
Many departments such as the military, national security and any deemed essential to the protection of life continue working during shutdowns. But agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must cease operations. This results in delays on tax decisions, food inspection and disease research among other problems.
Image: picture-alliance/BSIP/B. Boissonet
Barack Obama and Congress on Cruz-control
The next major shutdown came in 2013 under President Barack Obama. His Affordable Health Care Act — or Obamacare — faced stark opposition from conservative House Republicans. Led by Senator Ted Cruz, the group pushed for drastic curbs on the health care act in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The 18-day shutdown resulted in the furlough of some 850,000 workers. The cost: $24 billion.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Dharapak
Shutdown for a wall
The longest shutdown in US history so far lasted 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019. Hundreds of federal workers went without paychecks. Despite the disruption, then-President Donald Trump insisted that funding for his Mexico border wall be included in the budget. In fact, Trump had said he was prepared for the impasse to go on for years — before he gave in and reopened government.
Image: Doug Mills/UPI Photo/Imago Images
Cost of playing politics
The prohibitive cost of shutting down some government operations has not tamed the trend. Washington loses millions not just in revenue, but also in back pay, even though furloughed employees stay at home. So, time lost, work lost — and money lost. According to a 2019 estimate by ratings agency Standard and Poor's, a government shutdown costs the US roughly $6 billion per week.
Image: Imago
Shutdowns contributing to distrust?
The biggest loser is not the economy, or the party that makes the most concessions, it's the government itself. According to a Gallup poll in the aftermath of the 2013 shutdown, public dissatisfaction with the government in general rose to 33%. The previous all-time high regarding political dysfunction was 26% during the Watergate scandal.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Kaster
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Unfounded claims
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said her agency had encountered more than 3,000 suspected terrorists trying to enter the United States at the southern border, a claim for which she offered no evidence. Nevertheless, Trump administration spokespersons have regularly repeated such claims in an effort to convince citizens of the urgency of a border wall.
Illegal crossings dropped to less than 400,000 last year, from 1.6 million in 2000, yet asylum and immigration processing delays have caused huge backups at the border creating serious problems for those attempting to enter the US. Critics also point out that many of those who are in the country illegally are not there because they entered illegally, but rather because they have overstayed their visas.
Critics have called the president's insistence upon a wall an obsession driven by ego and racist tendencies, but he and his administration maintain he is simply concerned with protecting American citizens.
Though Trump has sought to sell his new proposal to build the wall of steel slats rather than concrete as a concession to Democrats, lawmakers from that party have said they are opposed because they see the wall as immoral and ineffective.
Democrats have called the wall a grossly outdated solution to a 21st century problem, and insist border security can be improved by hiring more border agents and improving technology.
On Wednesday, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will meet with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, before the president heads south to visit the border on Thursday.
Earlier Tuesday, a court filing revealed an allegation that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort shared polling data during the 2016 presidential campaign with Konstantin Kilimnik, a former business partner accused of having ties to Russian intelligence.
The allegation — accidentally revealed in a defense filing that was meant to be redacted — is the first time prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller's office have accused Manafort of not only sharing election-related information with Russian contacts, but also of later lying about it.
The filing raises the possibility Russia might have used inside campaign information to meddle in the 2016 election in favor of Trump.
Residents in the Mexican city of Tijuana have constructed some quirky architectural structures near the rust-red fence erected by the US. Meanwhile, the authorities last month posted a call to expand the wall.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
The wall exists
The border between the US and Mexico spans about 1,900 miles, of which nearly 700 miles are currently covered by walls and fences. Tijuana is the largest city in Baja California, one of the six Mexican states with a border to the US.
Image: GoogleMaps
Sweeping views
The residents of this house near the US-Mexico border fence enjoy a wider view of the scrublands in the US state of California.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
Trump critic
Mexican architect Carlos Torres, 68, has been living in his house near the fence for three decades. He said the proposed wall will not be able to halt immigration. "Trump doesn't know what he's talking about. Here at this fence, people keep crossing every week," Torres explained.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
Treehouse
Guatemalan chef Joaquin, 36, builds a bed in a tree, near a section of the border fence. He said he was deported from the United States. At night from his bed, Joaquin tries to look into the heavens through the leaves. "I've tried to cross so many times that the border guards even got to know me, but I never made it back," he said.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
Flagship project
A house stands near the US-Mexico fence on the outskirts of Tijuana. Last month, the US authorities posted a call for proposals to expand existing walls along the Mexican border. The US president Donald Trump talked about building a wall several times during his election campaign. This project is being seen as Trump’s flagship anti-immigration project.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
Eye-watering costs
The roof of a house made with an advertisement banner is seen next to the fence, extension of which may cost between $12 billion (11.3 billion euros) and $15 billion.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
Not easy to cross
This shack standing next to the US-Mexico fence may look as if it can be climbed easily, but the proposed wall is going to be harder to cross. Because according to the tender, the wall should not be scalable, even using sophisticated climbing aids, and should be sunk at least six feet into the ground to avoid tunneling.
Image: Reuters/E. Garrido
Two different kinds of wall
A girl runs outside her home near the US-Mexico fence, which was made of corrugated metal. However, the proposed wall will be of two different kinds of material - solid concrete and a transparent one.
