Less than a month before the 2018 midterm elections, House
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) introduced
the Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018 (HR 7059) on
October 12, 2018, but the bill died at the end of the congressional
session. In December, the Republican-controlled Senate passed
an appropriations bill that did not include the $5.7 billion in
the President’s budget. The House passed (217-185, with 8
Republicans voting against) a stopgap bill which included wall
funding. This, however, was blocked by the Senate Democrats
and President Trump, as promised, vetoed the spending bill. That
logjam resulted in a partial shutdown of the federal government
from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019 – the longest such
shut down in US history.
With Democrats regaining control of the House and their
commitment to blocking any progress on the border wall, the
chances for obtaining sufficient wall funding from Congress
plummeted essentially to zero.
On February 14, Congress passed legislation which only
contained $1.375 billion for approximately 55 miles of border
barriers (“steel slats,” but not a concrete wall) in the Rio Grande
Valley. Not only was this much less than the $5.7 billion President
Trump had requested (which, in turn, was several times less
than the approximately $23 billion offered by the McCarthy
bill), the legislation also contained a hidden poisoned pill in the
form of what the Federation for American Immigration Reform
(FAIR) President Dan Stein described as “a perpetual illegal alien
amnesty,” as well as an H-2B guest worker increase. Deeply
frustrated, the President ultimately signed the legislation to avoid
another shutdown. Simultaneously, on February 15, he declared a
national emergency to supplement the insufficient congressional
appropriation with additional funding, including: $601 million
from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, up to $2.5 billion under
the Department of Defense funds transferred for Support for
Counterdrug Activities, and an up to $3.6 billion reallocation from
the Department of Defense military construction projects.
Rather than working to solve the border crisis, House
Democrats (and some Republicans) voted to terminate the
President’s emergency declaration, as well as filing a lawsuit
aimed at declaring President Trump’s executive declaration
unconstitutional. On February 27, the House voted 245–182
(including thirteen Republicans) against the emergency
declaration. Similarly, the Senate voted against the declaration
on March 14 by a vote of 59 to 41 (twelve GOP senators voted
with the Democrats). President Trump vetoed the “reckless” Joint
Resolution on March 15. The House attempted to overturn the
veto but did not have sufficient votes to do so. Sixteen states – all
of them “blue” – also sued the Trump administration, but the
President remains undeterred.
Despite congressional obstruction, on March 27, the Pentagon
handed the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
$1 billion – out of the $6.1 billion in defense funds – to build 57
miles of fencing. On April 9, the USACE awarded a $789 million
fixed-price contract for barrier replacement in Santa Teresa (New
Mexico) to SLS, and a $187 million design-bid-build contract
for primary pedestrian wall replacement in Yuma (Arizona) to
Barnard. These were the first contracts utilizing emergency
declaration funds. Ten days later, on April 19, USACE started
prequalifying contractors for $8 billion in construction work.
According to a construction industry news and analysis site, “the
Pentagon is now ready to mobilize nearly the full emergency
fund amount for projects which will include wall, levee, fencing,
access roads, gates, repairs and more.”
In late April 2019, Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
issued two waivers facilitating more rapid construction within
the US Border Patrol’s Yuma and El Paso sectors in Arizona
and Texas. “The projects covered by the waivers include up to
approximately 53 miles of new bollard wall in place of dilapidated
and outdated designs, in addition to, road construction and
improvement and lighting installation.” (The waivers were
published in the Federal Register on April 24, 2019.)
CONCLUSION
In 2006, Congress required that a barrier be constructed. But
the project was never completed as mandated, and much of the
border wall/fence lies in disrepair or is built to subpar standards.
With illegal immigration, drug trafficking and human smuggling
an ongoing problem, and the threat of terrorism ever increasing, it
is critical that a proper security barrier be constructed.
A physical barrier on the southern border is a necessity if
our government wishes to meet its obligation to protect the
sovereignty and security of the United States of America. Besides
helping stem the tide of illegal immigration, it also limits the
ability of drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorists, and other
national security threats to access the United States from Mexico
and the rest of Central and South America. Furthermore, a secure
border sends the message that prospective immigrants are
expected to follow the rule of law.
Article provided in part by WeBuildtheWall, Inc. and FAIR (Federation for American
Immigration Reform), please visit https://www.fairus.org/issue/border-security/
current-state-border-fence for further information.
170 The TRUMP RALLY Publication
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