The Patriot Post® · Trump at the Border
President Trump went to the border community of McAllen, Texas, Thursday to meet with Border Patrol agents and make the case for more physical barriers on the border.
Joining the president was Reggie Singh, brother of California Police Officer Ronil Singh, who was gunned down by an illegal alien the day after Christmas. Singh said:
“The way he [Ronil] was killed, what my family is going through right now, I do not want any other family, law enforcement person, to go through that. Whatever it takes to minimize, put a stop to it, my family fully supports it.”
The president also met with Acting Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz. Agent Ortiz told the president:
“Just yesterday we apprehended 133 people from countries other than Central America and Mexico. That includes individuals from India, Pakistan, China, Romania … on and on and on…
"Mr. President, we have 55 miles of fencing in this sector. We started a job in 2006. We need to finish that job… Part of our area is covered with some fencing on our east side. That accounts for about 6% of our traffic. Where we have no fencing, over 90% of our traffic occurs in those areas.”
Mockery & Misinformation
While President Trump was meeting with agents on the frontline and hearing from the victims of criminal aliens, the media continued to mock the president, suggesting there is no crisis at the border.
CNN’s Jim Acosta decided to tour the border himself and filed this report:
“Here are some of the steel slats that the president’s been talking about. But as we’re walking along here, we’re not seeing any kind of imminent danger. There are no migrants trying to rush toward this fence… No sign of the national emergency the president has been talking about. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty tranquil down here.”
Good job, Jim! Thanks for proving what Agent Ortiz said and what most of us have known all along: WALLS WORK!
Sadly, that may be the only time you’ll hear Big Media admit that walls work. The San Diego border wall worked so well that CNN disinvited a local reporter from appearing on its network to discuss the wall. Here’s how KUSI explained the situation:
“KUSI offered our own Dan Plante, who has reported dozens of times on the border… We believe CNN declined a report from KUSI because we informed them that most Border Patrol Agents we have spoken to told us the barrier does in fact work.
"We have continuously been told by Border Patrol Agents that the barrier along the Southern border helps prevent illegal entries, drugs, and weapons from entering the United States, and the numbers prove it.”
It can’t be repeated enough: Barriers, fences and walls work.
That’s why so many property owners build fences. That’s why so many people choose to live in gated communities.
That’s why Israel, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Hungary have all built major border fences and walls.
TAKE ACTION: The primary responsibility of government is to protect its citizens. That begins by securing our borders. Congress needs to do its job.
Click here to send a message urging your members of Congress to support additional funding for serious border security.
What’s Next?
As liberal politicians dig in and as left-wing judges knock down anything Trump tries, the president is increasingly raising the idea of declaring an emergency at the border.
In fact, he’s being encouraged to do so by Senator Lindsey Graham because Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security.
Just to be clear: This is not martial law. Nor is Trump suggesting anything unprecedented. There are 31 active national emergencies. Barack Obama used this same authority 13 times. Where was the media freak out then?
When President Trump says, “The law is 100% on my side,” he’s 100% right. Here’s how constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley explains it:
“Congress expressly gave presidents the authority to declare such emergencies and act unilaterally. The 1976 National Emergencies Act gives presidents sweeping authority as well as allowance … to declare an ‘immigration emergency’ to deal with an ‘influx of aliens which either is of such magnitude … that effective administration of the immigration laws of the United States is beyond the existing capabilities’ of immigration authorities…
"The basis for such an invocation generally includes the ‘likelihood of continued growth in the magnitude of the influx,’ rising criminal activity … and ‘other circumstances.’”
Now recall what we have reported in recent days:
The Washington Post acknowledged that “Record numbers of migrant families are streaming into the United States, overwhelming border agents.”
The Pew Research Center reports that apprehensions in 2018 were “the most … since 2014.” That was the same year as Obama’s big border crisis.
The Department of Homeland Security reports that December apprehensions of migrant families set a record and marked “the third month in a row that more than 50,000 people have illegally crossed into the U.S.”
ICE announced that it arrested more than 158,000 criminal aliens last year. More than 5,300 had convictions for murder and sexual assault.
And Trump is considering this declaration as reports are breaking that a new migrant caravan is preparing to leave Honduras and march on the border.
A Force For Good
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an outstanding speech Thursday at the American University of Cairo, the same venue where President Barack Obama made his first major speech on foreign soil in June of 2009.
Here are some excerpts of Pompeo’s remarks:
“Remember: It was here, here in this city, that another American stood before you. He told you that radical Islamist terrorism does not stem from an ideology.
"He told you that 9/11 led my country to abandon its ideals, particularly in the Middle East. He told you that the United States and the Muslim world needed, quote, ‘a new beginning.’ …
"The good news is this: The age of self-inflicted American shame is over, and so are the policies that produced so much needless suffering. Now comes the real new beginning.”