Shutdown shakeout: Questions must be answered

Bill Knight column for 2-4, 5 or 6, 2019

Last week, hours after President Trump ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, readings at church were from St. Paul’s 1^st Letter to the Corinthians, in which he reminded us all that we are one body, and each of us is a part of it. If one part suffers, every part suffers; if one part is honored, every part rejoices.

Therefore, this commentary on the shutdown and its raison d'être (its supposed justification) – a wall on the border with Mexico – is in that spirit: common interests.

A conference committee with members of both houses and both parties was appointed and started meeting to discuss general immigration policies and specifically a barrier, and here are 10 broad questions that should be answered by that group, which includes U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois:

1. There’s been no expert study on this; will there now be one, and will it say where and how it could be built?

2. Some construction and engineering specialists have said a 1,000-mile wall would take 10,000 workers 10 years and cost many billions of dollars. (The administration itself last January said a 316-mile wall extension alone would cost $18 billion.) Does that make sense in a country where infrastructure needs attention?

3. Where did the $5.7 billion figure come from? It wasn’t announced until after the midterm election – and the figure stayed the same when the concept changed from a concrete wall to a system of steel slats. How could the cost not change, too? Further, Trump said the change from concrete to steel came “at the Democrats’ request,” but that’s not true. (The president also falsely said Democrats “acknowledged that having a barrier, a fence, a wall, or whatever you call it, will be an important part of the solution.”)

4. The word “crisis” has been thrown around. Unauthorized border crossings are occurring at almost historic lows (the administration’s own Customs and Border Protection agency said last year was the “lowest level” on record. Is it a crisis?

5. Concerning how immigrants are stereotyped as terrorists, criminals, etc.: Has any terrorist been apprehended at the border with Mexico? Also, the Center for Migration Studies says most undocumented immigrants arrive legally, then overstay their visas. The president recently tweeted, “Build a wall & crime will fall,” but don’t statistics show immigrants commit violent crimes less often than native-born Americans. In fact, in El Paso, the crime rate dropped between 1992 and 2007, and then an 18-foot wall extending 57 miles was erected and violent crime started rising. Also, those seeking asylum are different. How will the committee accurately depict various people seeking entry?

6. Since most heroin enters the United States at legal checkpoints, and Trump was shown tunnels beneath existing walls in Nogales, Ariz., and McAllen, Texas, would a wall really be effective in preventing illegal drugs or undocumented immigrants from entering?

7. Reportedly, no House member from a district on the border supports the wall, and in Texas, where much of the proposed structure would go, there’s considerable opposition. Republican Congressman and former CIA officer Will Hurd, whose district includes about 800 miles of the border with Mexico, said the emergency is a “myth.” Texas Observer magazine reported that Texas voters oppose the wall 55-43 percent, and landowners along Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, whose property would be bought or seized, are resistant. Should such a project be imposed on our citizens?

8. The president has said he may declare a “national emergency” under the National Emergency Act of 1976, proceeding without Congressional authorization and circumventing the Constitutional mandate that Congress has. Is it OK for Congress to relinquish its role as one of three equal branches of government? And, besides, doesn’t the House of Representatives have the power to rescind such declarations? (Also, if the president orders the military to build a wall or enforce domestic laws, doesn’t that violate the Posse Comitatus Act?)

9. Why is this so important now since it wasn’t pushed vigorously when the president’s party controlled both houses of Congress?

10. Finally: Will Mexico pay for it, as repeatedly promised by the president?