Ah yes, the standard Republican thought process of "Democrats don't want the border protected".
Of course I want the border protected. However, I do not see the need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars needlessly.
The Border Patrol doesn't want walls. They want fences. They want to see what is happening on the other side of the border. We don't need walls. We also don't need a wall (or a fence) all through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. We do not need to be building fences where there is no illegal activity; That's just a waste of money. The Democrats already did this - they passed a wall which built fences where fences were needed. If we decide we need to build additional fences in other areas, come up with a bill that does this. However, the current administration is incapable of doing this... The Trump administration needs to go to Congress and say "We have identified thirty-two areas where we believe fences need to be built due to illegal crossings and we need $X to build this". Instead the Trump administration says "We want $500 billion to build a wall" without any details and the Border Patrol rejects this because they don't want a wall, they want fences.
We also need to work on the Border Patrol itself - more agents, better pay for the agents, and more and better equipment. Right now it's difficult to even recruit Border Patrol agents - crappy pay, crappy job, and crappy job locations. I've given this a lot of thought really, and there is a good solution to this.... Make the Border Patrol into a military force similar to the Army. Then make "Board Patrol" bases similar to the military bases we have here in the United States. Military bases are beautiful - they have all of the conveniences of a small town (schools, movie theaters, pools, stores, gyms, recreation facilities, etc), are very clean and have low crime. (When I was stationed at Camp Lejeune we had a place on base where we could rent jet skis.) The downside here is the cost to this would be astronomical.
The other problem is now illegal immigrants have found a massive loophole.... They claim asylum. All of our fences and all of our walls no longer matter - all they need to do is stand in front of that fence or wall - which is American soil - and claim asylum. At this point the Border Patrol is legally required to get them, transport them to where ever, and start the asylum process. While we process them we house them, feed them, and give them medical care - and then release them into the United States. The immigration process is completely and utterly overwhelmed, and the process can take years during which asylum claimants start the process of becoming United States citizens. This is madness; This is a massive abuse of the asylum process.
It's really important to note that we didn't have this issue until Trump took office. We didn't have this problem under Obama; Obama deported more illegal immigrants than any other President. Trump and his administration caused this situation through their incompetence, and because of their incompetence they are unable to find a solution to the process. In fact, I don't even see this being discussed by the White House. (Although it's really hard to tell because the White House hasn't had a press conference in over two months.)
I am a Marine and to this very day I believe in how Marines think, starting with "KISS" - Keep It Simple Stupid. There are very simple solutions to all of these problems...
1) Asylum Laws
We need to change the asylum laws. Change the law so that in order to claim asylum someone can only do so through a United States Embassy in their home country. This stops them from coming to the United States. If they come to the United States, they should be treated as a illegal immigrant and be quickly deported.
2) Border Patrol
We need to beef up the Border Patrol - in a huge way. We should consider using the military to secure our borders. This should be part of their mission statement. Instead of closing up military bases like we have been doing, we should be building military bases along our borders - small bases capable of air support (helicopters). I was in the military; If we weren't on deployment or actually training we did.... nothing. This would be constant training. Currently the United States Border Patrol is 21k agents.... I am sure the US Military can free up 20k troops quickly. And they would be better trained and better equipped too.
3) Fences
We do not need to build walls; We need fences. Identify areas where fences are needed and build fences. We've done this before - the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Let's take another look and see if we need to do something similar again and allocate more money for to maintain current fences, and beef up fences already built if needed.
The problem is the Trump administration is incapable of doing any of this.
The Trump administration routinely ignores the advice of it's own government. (Right now Trump wants to build a $20 billion aircraft carrier, while the
Secretary of the Navy says we need to invest that money into Cybersecurity.) Then factor in the mean rhetoric against immigrants in general by this administration, the lies, the lack of trust, the refusal to work with Democrats at any level, and the way the Trump Administration attacks pretty much everyone an anyone.... The White House is unable to hold a press conference no less accomplish anything meaningful.
Sorry about the length of my post.... I was up early and had my first Red Bull in six months.
