Daily Signal: President Donald Trump made the case Tuesday night for the $5.7 billion he wants Congress to approve for a wall expanding the physical barrier along the southern border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs. The Daily Signal examined five of the president’s claims in his 10-minute speech from the Oval Office.
1. “All Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration. It strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages. Among those hardest hit are African-Americans and Hispanic Americans.”
According to U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow, black Americans are disproportionately affected by illegal immigration.
“Black males are more likely to experience competition from illegal immigrants,” Kirsanow said in a 2017 interview with The Daily Signal.
“What happens is you eliminate the rungs on the ladder because a sizable number of black men don’t have access to entry-level jobs,” Kirsanow said. “It is not just the competition and the unemployment of blacks. It also depresses the wage levels.”
Also, a Civil Rights Commission study in 2010 found that illegal immigration had a high impact on black men in particular. The report noted:
Illegal immigration to the United States in recent decades has tended to depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black men. Expert economic opinions concerning the negative effects range from modest to significant. Those panelists that found modest effects overall nonetheless found significant effects in industry sectors such as meatpacking and construction.
George J. Borjas, a professor of economics and social policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, wrote for Politico in 2016 on the issue, saying:
Both low- and high-skilled natives are affected by the influx of immigrants. But because a disproportionate percentage of immigrants have few skills, it is low-skilled American workers, including many blacks and Hispanics, who have suffered most from this wage dip. The monetary loss is sizable. The typical high school dropout earns about $25,000 annually. According to census data, immigrants admitted in the past two decades lacking a high school diploma have increased the size of the low-skilled workforce by roughly 25 percent. As a result, the earnings of this particularly vulnerable group dropped by between $800 and $1,500 each year.
2. “Sen. Chuck Schumer—who you will be hearing from later tonight—has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past, along with many other Democrats. They changed their mind only after I was elected president.”
As Senate minority leader, Schumer, D-N.Y., is now the chamber’s top Democrat. In 2006, Schumer—along with other high-profile Democrats—voted for the Secure Fence Act.
The proposal specifically calls for a physical barrier along more than 700 miles of the southern border that had no fencing. The language of the Secure Fence Act says it:
Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to direct the [Homeland Security] Secretary to provide at least two layers of reinforced fencing, installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors extending: (1) from ten miles west of the Tecate, California, port of entry to ten miles east of the Tecate, California, port of entry; (2) from ten miles west of the Calexico, California, port of entry to five miles east of the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry (requiring installation of an interlocking surveillance camera system by May 30, 2007, and fence completion by May 30, 2008); (3) from five miles west of the Columbus, New Mexico, port of entry to ten miles east of El Paso, Texas; (4) from five miles northwest of the Del Rio, Texas, port of entry to five miles southeast of the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry; and (5) 15 miles northwest of the Laredo, Texas, port of entry to the Brownsville, Texas, port of entry (requiring fence completion from 15 miles northwest of the Laredo, Texas, port of entry to 15 southeast of the Laredo, Texas, port of entry by December 31. 2008.
So Schumer has voted for a physical barrier, although he technically could argue that he supported a “fence” rather than a “wall.”
Other Senate Democrats to support the proposal included Barack Obama of Illinois, Hillary Clinton of New York, and Joe Biden of Delaware. Among current senators, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., voted for the proposal.
Some Democrats were indeed consistently opposed to a physical barrier. For example, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., now the Democratic whip, voted against the 2006 bill.
But in the House, then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., voted no on the Secure Fence Act, as did the No. 2 Democrat, Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
3. “Every week 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border.”
So there was 650 miles of fence constructed from 2006 to 2011.
Also, bonus, 2,000 additional deaths due to cartels fighting each other.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006
So why not more, why not now?
We are way beyond fact checks and democrats tricks, fund the government and we’ll discuss border security bullshit at this point. We were past it on election night 2016.
The argument for border security is way past over. I’ve grown weary of talking about it.
This is a cute story – like Democrats really care about blacks, drug use or sexual assault on immigrant women. So long as blacks, illegal immigrants and junkies stay out of their gated communities, it’s just all hot air.
By the way, Occasional Cortex’s response is “facts, schmacts. I feel differently.” It’s hard to argue with the criminally deranged.