Truth or Lies

            President Donald Trump took his case for the $5.7 billion to build a wall or fence on the southern U.S. border. While Candidate Trump he said that he wanted a “big, beautiful wall” made of cement. As President he counseled with the experts on the border and learned that the agents prefer a wall that they can see through in order to know what is happening on both sides of the barrier.

            Like any good leader, Trump listens to the counsel of the experts and now says that a wall of steel posts would meet his goal. He simply wants to stop the often heavy flow of illegal drugs and illegal aliens across the border. Many Americans say that Trump made his case to the American people. Other Americans say that he lied about the facts. Jared Stepman and Rachel del Guidice at The Daily Signal did some fact checking on five of the claims made by the President in his first address from the Oval Office.

1. “All Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration. It strains public resources and drives down job 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….” [2017]

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….

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….

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….

So Schumer has voted for a physical barrier, although he technically could argue that he supported a “fence” rather than a “wall….”

  

3. “Every week 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017 “more than 15,000 people died of drug overdoses involving heroin in the United States.” That’s about 288 deaths per week. “Mexico remains the primary source of heroin available in the United States, according to all available sources of intelligence … states a 2018 report from the Drug Enforcement Administration….”

4. “One in three women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek up through Mexico.”

A 2017 report from Doctors Without Borders surveying crossings into Mexico from the areas of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, which it calls the Northern Triangle of Central America, says that “nearly one-third of the women surveyed had been sexually abused during their journey….”

5. “In the last two years, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records, including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings.”

Trump’s arrest numbers are correct, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement numbers compiled in 2017 and 2018. The number of illegal immigrants arrested by ICE is the highest since 2014, according to a December report by the agency….

            According to Stepman and del Guidice and their research, Trump presented facts, not guesses, lies, or opinions, in his address. If these facts are the truth, then the people who are calling them lies are attempting to deceive Americans. This brings the question of “why?” The answer is pure political gain. It appears that the biggest obstacle that Trump has to get over is the “wall” created by liberals.

            The Democrats simply cannot allow Trump to get his border because it will stop the human trafficking, illegal drugs, and illegal aliens coming across the border and decrease Democrat power. The fact is that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have the power to end the government shut down any time that they wish. They can give Trump the $5.7 billion and allow him to build the wall. I believe that Trump will get his wall, fence, or barrier – whatever you wish to call it – but only after the Democrats realize that they have mud on their faces from causing such a mess.