On the 18th of December 2019, the republican President Donald Trump created a crisis by demanding at the last minute additional funding for his border wall, virtually within hours of the US Congress final passage of a bill with the president’s prior stamp of approval, to keep the US government operational until February 2019. This resulted in the current government shutdown started on the 22nd of December with no end in sight.

For the duration of this presidential shutdown, 800,000 federal employees are harmed because they will have to forgo or have their paychecks delayed, along with the loss of reliable income for their families, the small businesses that cater to these employees and then, there are the American peoples who will be  deprived of necessary services.

As per the 1/10/19 Dailyevergreen.com’s report, “It’s the president’s duty to create jobs and maintain a functional government. Shutdowns not only oppose this idea in the short term, they can cost taxpayers up to $6.5 billion a week in the long term, according to a 2017 study by Standard and Poor.”

“Ernest Johnson, a geologist for the Bureau of Land Management, is just one of (many)  federal employees working without a paycheck.”

“Now it’s just waiting out the storm and just sitting here to start getting back to work and knocking out the backlog,” said Johnson in an article published by Wall Street Journal.”

“The state of federal workers is only worsened by the fact that the conflict causing this deadlock is President Trump’s border wall.”

“No wall is useful without constant patrol and surveillance, the cost of which many economists and law enforcement agencies estimate to be upwards of $20 billion. A leaked 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Securityput the cost at $21.6 billion, a far cry from the $5 billion Trump is asking for in his budget.”

“While President Trump warns of a crisis at the border, many of the serious violent crimes keeping people up at night would not be helped by any kind of border security. Powerful gangs in the south have the means to cross between borders at will and slowing them is not as simple as a wall, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.”

“Keeping promises is a top priority for every elected official, and President Trump is no exception. Still, some must be left unfulfilled for the sake of the people. This nation is deeply entrenched in debt and any unnecessary expense should be examined and cut.”

“The U.S. needs its federal workers and as of now these people are struggling. As a nation we owe it to them to be compensated timely. It is time for President Trump to end the pettiness and sign the bipartisan bridge budget that would restore paychecks to our workers.”

The republican President Donald  J. Trump has been bragging about how the border control agents at the border have been backing his analysis for the necessity to address his trumped up immigration crisis by the building of a wall. But until Donald Trump became president that was not the case. As of January 2019, the National Border Patrol Council  (NBPC), a union for border control agents, had the following analysis on its website but which has now been deleted.

On January 7, 2019 for the San Francisco Chronicle penned the following analysis, “As walls go up at the U.S.-Mexico border, criminals go under”

Excerpts:

“By keeping a quarter of the government shuttered, President Trump is forcing 55,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration screeners to work without pay. Forcing our first line of defense to give up paychecks is a poor way to improve our safety.”

“It’s also a fact that nearly half of all undocumented immigrants come to the United States legally but then overstay their visas. A border wall would do nothing to curb visa overstays, a legitimate issue that should be addressed through biometric entry-and-exit systems.”

“The president is also ignoring domestic and international laws that protect asylum seekers. Immigrant families are fleeing horrific violence in Central America, but contrary to the president’s claims, many are turning themselves in at ports of entry to request asylum, not trying to cross the border illegally. Over the weekend, the administration shifted its stance and said it would support allowing asylum seekers to make claims in their home countries rather than coming to the U.S. border. If the administration follows through on this, it would be a positive development.”

“The president also claims that a wall is necessary to curb the flow of drugs into our country, another deceptive argument. Experience demonstrates that as walls go up, criminals go underground. More than 200 illicit cross-border tunnels have been discovered in the United States since 1990. I visited one in San Diego. Dozens of these included sophisticated elements such as rail tracks, lighting and ventilation.”

“While many of these tunnels are used to transport illegal narcotics into the United States, they’ve also been used for human smuggling. In August 2017, agents discovered and detained 30 migrants in an underground, cross-border tunnel. The tunnel was more than 300 feet long, and ran under the fencing between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego. Tunnels have been uncovered that run as long as a half-mile.”

“Fighting border tunnels requires cooperation on both sides of the border, and the Trump administration has failed to persuade Mexico to do more on this front. For example, Mexico has yet to criminalize the construction of cross-border tunnels and doesn’t permanently close them upon discovery.”

“By contrast, a bill I authored in 2007 criminalized the construction, financing or use of unauthorized tunnels into the United States, and another in 2012 provided law enforcement and prosecutors with tools to locate tunnels, identify criminals and punish those responsible. As a result of those laws, as of February 2017, 24 defendants had been charged in a dozen cases, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.”

“The Border Patrol has also struggled mightily with recruitment and retention. To fill just one agent position, the agency reports that it must interview 133 candidates.”

“Efforts to hire agents to fill vacant positions have fallen short. The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General recently found that the consulting firm hired by Customs and Border Patrol was paid $13.6 million in the first 10 months of its $297 million, five-year contract, which resulted in only two additional agents being hired.”

“This is a stunningly ineffective and inefficient use of government resources.”