(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)President Donald Trump left the White House in the midst of the government shutdown on Thursday to visit McAllen, Texas, where he held a roundtable discussion on illegal immigration. He brought with him a “special surprise” for the Border Patrol agents there.
The government has now been shut down for three weeks, and the Democrats are seemingly willing to allow the madness to continue forever instead of coming to the table to work out a compromise on the issue of border security. President Donald Trump, on the other hand, is doing everything in his power to reach an outcome which will finally end the partial shutdown that has now seen “essential” government employees working for twenty-one days without pay.
Trump is not about to change his plan for an impenetrable barrier along our porous southern border with Mexico, however. On his way to McAllen, Texas, to visit the border on Thursday, the president vowed to declare a “national emergency” in order to get the wall built if the Democrats will not work with him to end the partial government shutdown.
Trump has floated the idea in recent days that he may declare a national emergency at the southern border under his authority as Commander-in-Chief, which would then authorize him to begin construction on the wall with military funds.
The president is currently exploring the idea of declaring a national emergency so that he can build the wall without the approval of Congress. As the partial government shutdown heads into its third week, Congress is stuck at an impasse as Democrats say they will not give Trump any of the $5.7 billion he has requested for the wall.
Trump told reporters Friday that he is open to using emergency powers to circumvent Congress, stating, “We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. It’s another way of doing it.” He reiterated the idea Sunday, adding that he would wait and see what negotiations yielded over the next “few days.” [Source: The Daily Caller]
“If we don’t make a deal, I would say it would be very surprising to me that I would not declare a national emergency and just fund it through the various mechanisms,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Thursday. “I have the absolute right to declare a national emergency. I haven’t done it yet. I may do it. If this doesn’t work out, probably I will do it. I would almost say definitely. The only way you have a strong border is you have a wall or steel barrier.”
Once he made it to the border, Trump made it abundantly clear why the immigration issue does, in fact, constitute a “national emergency.”
Attending a roundtable at the U.S. Border Patrol McAllen Station, the president walked into the room and said, “I’m honored to be in McAllen, Texas with the heroes of Border Patrol, and they are heroes. You take so much heat, so much abuse from people who don’t know what they’re talking about. I want to say you have a friend with this administration and you have a friend with me.”
“You have no idea how much you’re loved by the public,” Trump continued. “Maybe not by the fake news, but you’re loved by the public.”
As the president spoke, immediately visible before him were dangerous and illicit items that Border Patrol agents have seized while defending the border, including an “AR-15 rifle, colt handguns, a plastic bag full of cash, and black-taped bricks of heroin and meth.”
If anyone is still questioning whether it is in our best interest to build an impassable wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, they need look no further than the items Trump staged in Texas. These represent only a small fraction of what is smuggled into our country illegally every year, and yet they are so very powerful. Build the wall — build it now!
