On January 19, 2019, President Trump addressed the nation to propose his new offer to end the border wall stalemate that has closed parts of our government.
Here was the essence of Trump's new deal. Give me all the $5.7 billion that I want for my beautiful permanent wall and I will give you three years of temporary protections for the Dreamers (DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and those in temporary protected status (TPS). That is a my permanent for your temporary kind of deal. No future guarantees to ever resolve or make permanent your temporary perks. Does that seem fair?
A fair counterproposal by the Democrats would be to give permanent legal status to the Dreamers for a temporary wall that must be torn down in three years.
There were no new ideas in Trump's proposal. Several variations have been offered before by Democrats, Republicans, and bipartisan groups in Congress. Trump has turned them all down, often after initially agreeing to them. The man can't be trusted. There is no reason to believe he would negotiate in good faith about DACA or TPS once he gets permanent wall funding. By the way, it was Trump himself who took away the protections of DACA and TPS. Offering to undo what he did is not bipartisan negotiations, it is closer to demanding a ransom.
It has also been reported that the preparation for this latest Trump proposal was cobbled together by VP Mike Pence, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and boy wonder Jarod Kushner. All members of his administration. Maybe a little input from some other Republicans. Absolutely no input from Democrats. That's Trump's definition of bipartisan. No word yet whether Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and/or Sean Hannity helped with the plan.
Let's also note that the Dreamers are currently protected while the courts decide their fate. There is no telling how long those court cases will take to be resolved. The latest indication is that the Supreme Court may not take up the case. Those in the TPS program are in a slightly more precarious position although their fate is tied up in the courts too.
Now let's do some fact checking on Trump's address. He stated that "some say" his border wall could cut crime and drugs in the US by up to half. That is ludicrous. First, that assumes that the vast majority of crime in this country is committed by illegal immigrants. Second, it assumes that most of the drugs coming into our country come across the border in places that currently do not have a wall. Most of the illegal drugs come into the country through legal ports of entry, land, sea, and air. Many come in trucks and cars through government staffed checkpoints at the Mexican border.
Trump stated that there are over 70,000 drug deaths a year in this country. That is accurate and it is tragic. Of course, that number includes OD deaths from all drugs, legal and illegal. He also stated that illegal drugs use cost society $700 billion. I have been unable to find any confirmation for that number. Any drug costs again, include both legal and illegal drugs and they are lower than $700 billion.
Trump mentioned the "radical" left or the "extreme" left and his perception that they have not been willing to compromise. Not any mention of the extreme right or Republican's unwillingness to compromise. It's never a good idea to call your opponents names when trying to strike a deal.
Finally, our always empathetic president failed to mention the 800,000 government employees who are not getting paid.
