Tag: Trump border wall

Report: Not One Mile Of New Border Wall Has Gone Up Since 2017

Trump has been promising a big, beautiful wall for years now, but even after declaring a national emergency, there still isn’t a single section of new wall to show for it. Instead, all that has happened is that existing fences and other barriers have been beefed up or replaced.

In total, the administration has thus far only repaired or replaced 60 miles of the border barrier. Even conservative news outlets like the Washington Examiner, usually a reliable cheerleader for Trump, have admitted that there’s no new wall. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency also confirmed the complete failure to get any new wall built.

That isn’t stopping Trump from celebrating his own achievements. Earlier this year, Trump spent taxpayer dollars to visit a plaque commemorating “completion of the first section of President Trump’s border wall.” That section was just a refurb as well.

View the complete August 26 article by Lisa Needham on the National Memo website here.

GOP senator held up Trump nominee, demanding to see border wall contracts after Army Corps panned construction firm he prefers

Washington Post logoA Republican senator held up the confirmation of a White House budget official this week in an attempt to obtain sensitive information about border wall contracts he has been trying to steer to a major donor, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.

The emails show Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) blasting the “arrogance” of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after senior military officials told him the contracts contained sensitive, proprietary information provided by the companies that could not be shared.

In recent months, Cramer has touted his preferred construction firm, North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, and campaign finance records show the senator has received thousands of dollars in contributions from company chief executive Tommy Fisher and his family members.

View the complete August 2 article by Nick Miroff and Damian Paletta on The Washington Post website here.

Supreme Court rules Trump can use military funds for border wall construction

The Hill logoThe Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Trump administration can start using military funds to construct a wall on the southern border, handing the president a major legal victory.
The ruling allows the administration to use $2.5 billion in military funds to begin construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border while litigation plays out. A lower court had issued an injunction blocking officials from using those funds.
The Supreme Court’s four liberal justices each at least partially dissented on the ruling Friday.

View the complete July 26 article by Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

‘He always brings them up’: Trump tries to steer border wall deal to North Dakota firm

President Trump has personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a North Dakota construction firm whose top executive is a GOP donor and frequent guest on Fox News, according to four administration officials.

In phone calls, White House meetings and conversations aboard Air Force One during the past several months, Trump has aggressively pushed Dickinson, N.D.-based Fisher Industries to Department of Homeland Security leaders and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps, according to the administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions. The push for a specific company has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials.

Semonite was summoned to the White House again Thursday, after the president’s aides told Pentagon officials — including Gen. Mark Milley, the Army’s chief of staff — that the president wanted to discuss the border barrier. According to an administration official with knowledge of the Oval Office meeting, Trump immediately brought up Fisher, a company that sued the U.S. government last month after the Army Corps did not accept its bid to install barriers along the southern border, a contract potentially worth billions of dollars.

View the complete May 23 article by Nick Miroff and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Wants Border Wall Designed To Burn And Impale Migrants

Trump’s cruelty knows no bounds.

According to a new report from the Washington Post, Trump has made demented requests for additions to his border wall intended to physically injure any immigrants who attempt to scale it.

Trump requested additions to the physical wall that included matte black paint that would become so hot it burned immigrants’ hands, and pointed spokes at the top that would “inflict pain,” according to the Post‘s Josh Dawsey.

View the complete May 17 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Emily Singer Trump Budget Would Cut Food And Health Care For Millions

Trump’s budget for the next fiscal year was released on Monday, and it’s just as bad as you can imagine.

In it, Trump proposes gutting social safety-net programs, like food stamps, while at the same time working to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with the same health care bill Republicans failed to pass in 2017, which would kick 21 million Americans off the insurance rolls.

Trump’s budget also proposes further health care cuts, including nixing zero-premium plans on the ACA exchanges and demanding that all Americans “contribute something.” That could raise costs for millions of poorer Americans who currently pay $0 in health care subsidies in the ACA exchange.

View the complete March 11 article by Emily Singer with The American Independent on the National Memo website here.

Rep. Phillips on the Trump Declaration of Emergency

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Dean Phillips released this statement on President Trump declaring a national emergency today:

“For generations, the Statue of Liberty has stood as the symbol of our nation; a beacon of hope and comfort to the tired, the sick and the weary. That’s the America I know and love, and the America I have sworn to protect and defend as a member of Congress. An imposing wall stretching from sea to shining sea on our southern border is antithetical to those ideals and a gross misuse of precious resources. Instead, a multi-faceted approach to border security, including human resources, technologies, enhanced port security, and physical barriers where appropriate and necessary should comprise our comprehensive strategy.

“From climate change to the gun violence epidemic, our nation faces many pressing problems. We – the President and Congress – were elected to fix them, not to circumvent the very principles that ground our exceptional democracy. The Constitution is clear; appropriations powers sit with the legislature. The President’s overreaching, and possibly illegal, declaration would make us less safe. He should respect the compromise reached by representatives of both parties and in both chambers and we should move forward on the work that the American people expect of us”

 

NEW POLL: Americans Want Trump To Reopen Government Without Border Wall Funding

A new poll released today shows that a vast majority of Americans oppose the Trump Shutdown and want Trump to support the Democrats’ proposal to reopen the government without border wall funding. As the Trump Shutdown enters its 33rd day, it’s clear why Trump’s approval rating has now dropped to an all-time low.

Trump’s approval rating hit an all-time low – and that’s saying something.

  • 59% of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing.

  • Only 36% approve — down 3 points since November.

A VAST majority of Americans oppose the Trump Shutdown.

  • 71% of Americans don’t think Trump’s border wall is worth a government shutdown.

  • One in five Americans reported the government shutdown personally affected them because of the pause in services and programs.

  • By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Americans want Trump to agree to a budget without funding for his border wall.

A 1970 U.S.-Mexico treaty shows why Trump’s border wall is absurd

The 2008 Ri Grande flood, near Presido, TX. Credit: National Park Service

Barriers built in the Rio Grande floodplain will either wash away during floods or become dams that worsen the flooding.

Much of the government has been shut down for more than 16 days because President Donald Trump insists that Congress fund a border wall that is both a terrible idea and illegal.

The shutdown is because Trump demands extending the existing border walls and barriers to vast areas that make no sense largely because they are in the Rio Grande floodplain. Building barriers in that floodplain was such a problematic idea that a 1970 treaty between United States and Mexico explicitly bans them.

“The president really doesn’t understand the issue,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “But we have actually already built a wall across much of the border, and all border security experts that I talk to say, where a wall makes sense, it’s already been built.”

View the complete January 7 article by Joe Romm on the ThinkProgress website here.

The history of U.S. border apprehensions

Following President Trump’s nationally televised plea to build a border wall, we look at the modern history of the arrest of migrants attempting to enter the United States without authorization.

President Trump addressed the nation Tuesday night about what he calls, “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border. As the government shutdown persists, here’s what we know about migration into the United States and what’s happening at the U.S.- Mexico border.

Figures released by the Department of Homeland Security show nationwide apprehensions of migrants entering the country without authorization are at some of their lowest numbers in decades. The U.S. Border Patrol states on its website that these numbers do not include individuals met at ports of entry looking to enter legally, but are determined to be inadmissible, or individuals seeking humanitarian protection under U.S. law.

U.S. Border Patrol took just over 400,000 people illegally entering the United States into custody in 2018, down from the second-high of 1.67 million in 2000.

View the complete January 10 article by Brittany Renee Mayes, Aaron Williams and Laris Karklis on The Washington Post website here.