He indicated little regard for the American citizens who have been hit in the paycheck by this "partial government shutdown."
Actually, I believe he indicated
no regard for them; they weren't even mentioned.
The speech was of course loaded up with the usual lurid fear mongering, (the bit about mothers giving their female children birth control pills for the trip to the border was nice new touch) made up statistics, (and other statistics that may not have been made up, but don't make his case...the total number of people in this country who die annually from drug overdoses is pretty disconnected from whether or not we a have a wall on our southern border) misleading anecdotes, (the case of the police officer murdered by an illegal alien the day after Christmas is a tragedy and an outrage, but it doesn't change the statistical fact that illegal immigrants commit violent crimes in this country at a lower rate than natural born citizens) and absurd assertions (at one point he even said that his wall could cut US crime rates in half
)
However, all of that having been said, if you strip all that crap away (and of course his callous failure to even acknowledge the hardships being faced by the hundreds of thousands of federal employees and their families who have now gone a full month without being paid) and just look at what he is putting on the table, I think the Democrats may be making a political mistake to simply reject it out of hand...
I've gone through the text of his speech and taken out just the parts that describe exactly what he is proposing (yes, it was a
painful exercise):
Our plan includes the following: $800 million in urgent humanitarian assistance; $805 million for drug detection technology to help secure our ports of entry; an additional 2,750 border agents and law enforcement professionals; 75 new immigration judge teams to reduce the court backlog of, believe it or not, almost 900,000 cases. However, the whole concept of having lengthy trials for anyone who sets one foot in our country unlawfully must be changed by Congress. It is unsustainable. It is ridiculous. Few places in the world would even consider such an impossible nightmare.
Our plan includes critical measures to protect migrant children from exploitation and abuse. This includes a new system to allow Central American minors to apply for asylum in their home countries, and reform to promote family reunification for unaccompanied children, thousands of whom wind up on our border doorstep.
To physically secure our border, the plan includes $5.7 billion for a strategic deployment of physical barriers, or a wall. This is not a 2,000-mile concrete structure from sea to sea. These are steel barriers in high-priority locations. Much of the border is already protected by natural barriers such as mountains and water. We already have many miles of barrier, including 115 miles that we are currently building or under contract. It will be done quickly. Our request will add another 230 miles. [To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that Trump has offered any specificity as to what exactly that 5.7 billion is supposed to pay for.]
...Furthermore, in order to build the trust and goodwill necessary to begin real immigration reform, there are two more elements to my plan. Number one is three years of legislative relief for 700,000 DACA recipients brought here unlawfully by their parents at a young age many years ago. This extension will give them access to work permits, Social Security numbers, and protection from deportation, most importantly.
Secondly, our proposal provides a three-year extension of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. This means that 300,000 immigrants whose protected status is facing expiration will now have three more years of certainty so that Congress can work on a larger immigration deal, which everybody wants -- Republicans and Democrats.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/ ... xt-1116059
Notably missing from this are the ante-upping demands about ending chain migration and immigration lotteries that tanked the last attempt at an agreement.
I think a lot people, (including folks who may not be big fans of building a wall, or fans of Trump) will look at that and think things like:
"Well, all things considered, that really doesn't look all that unreasonable. Maybe out of our 2000 mile border, there's an additional 230 miles where building a physical barrier might make sense, and while he's not offering a permanent solution on DACA or TPS, this would at least protect them and prevent them from being used as political pawns through the balance of his term as President. This isn't ideally what I would like, and it's not a long term solution, but at least the he's showing some willingness to compromise by providing incentives. The Democrats should at least be willing to talk about it. "
If the Democrats just reflexively declare this a non-starter, (as they appear to be doing now) I believe they run a very real danger of letting Trump look like the one who is willing to compromise while they are absolutely unmovable, and that could well lead to the advantage they have had in polls about who is blamed for the shutdown begin to turn...
In fact this proposal
so doesn't look all that unreasonable, that the high profile race and xenophobe baiters lost no time denouncing it:
Immigration hardliners blast Trump's shutdown deal offer
Immigration hardliners on Saturday afternoon blasted President Donald Trump's proposed deal to end the government shutdown, attacking his offer of temporary protection for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for border wall funding.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) tweeted: "A Big Beautiful Concrete Border Wall will be a monument to the Rule of Law, the sovereignty of the USA, & @realDonaldTrump. If DACA Amnesty is traded for $5.7 billion(1/5 of a wall), wouldn’t be enough illegals left in America to trade for the remaining 4/5. NO AMNESTY 4 a wall!"
“100 miles of border wall in exchange for amnestying millions of illegals. So if we grant citizenship to a BILLION foreigners, maybe we can finally get a full border wall,” tweeted conservative media commentator Ann Coulter, who has repeatedly antagonized the president for failing to erect a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border during his two years in office.
“Trump proposes amnesty. We voted for Trump and got Jeb!” Coulter added, referring to Trump’s 2016 GOP primary rival, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has previously criticized the president’s immigration rhetoric.
Tom Fitton, president of the right-wing activist group Judicial Watch, also denounced Trump’s proposal, tweeting that the overture to Democrats “will encourage more illegal immigration and undermine the rule of law.”
“Amnesty is not a good plan, @realDonaldTrump,” Fitton wrote online.
Roy Beck, president of the anti-immigration organization NumbersUSA, called the president’s offer “a loser for the forgotten American workers who were central to his campaign promises.”
Roy Beck, president of the anti-immigration organization NumbersUSA, called the president’s offer “a loser for the forgotten American workers who were central to his campaign promises.”
“An amnesty-for-wall trade would once again reward previous immigration lawbreakers without preventing future immigration lawbreakers,” Beck said in a statement. “This kind of amnesty deal will incentivize more caravans, more illegal border crossers and more visa overstayers at the expense of the most vulnerable American workers who have to compete with the illegal labor force."
“Trading amnesty for future promises of enforcement is always a bad deal,” said RJ Hauman, government relations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “Trading just a quarter of what you want for a couple Democrat amnesty priorities? Even worse. You must trade statutory changes for statutory changes, not for funding. The president should listen to his base, not Jared Kushner. One got you elected, the other is dead set on making you a one term president.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/ ... on-1116056
I think the Democrats lose nothing by at least agreeing to talk about this...
And besides, with so many of the High Priests of Trump's xenophobic base vehemently against it (
Especially The Most High Priestess herself, Ann Coulter) there's a very good chance he'll pussy-out and withdraw the offer any way...