White House digs in on border wall demand, risking shutdown
PUSHING THE government to the brink of a partial shutdown, the White House is insisting that Congress provide US$5 billion to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, despite lawmaker resistance from both parties.
Without a resolution, parts of the federal government will shut down at midnight Friday.
President Donald Trump kept up the pressure on Democrats Monday, tweeting: “Time for us to save billions of dollars a year and have, at the same time, far greater safety and control!”
On Sunday, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said: “We’re going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration.”
Asked if that meant having a government shutdown, he said: “If it comes to it, absolutely.”
Trump said last week he would be “proud” to have a shutdown to get Congress to approve a US$5-billion down payment to fulfil his campaign promise to build a border wall. But the president doesn’t have the votes from the Republicancontrolled Congress to support funding for the wall at that level.
Both major political parties in Congress have suggested that Trump would likely need to make the next move to resolve the impasse.
The Democratic congressional leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep Nancy Pelosi, have proposed no more than US$1.6 billion, as outlined in a bipartisan Senate bill. The money would not go for the wall but for fencing upgrades and other border security. Democrats also offered to simply keep funding at its current level, US$1.3 billion.
Showing no signs of budging, Schumer said Sunday that it was up to Trump to decide whether the federal government will partially shut down, sending thousands of federal employees home without pay during the holidays.
About one-quarter of the government would be affected, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Agriculture, State and Justice, as well as national parks. The US Postal Service, busy delivering packages for the holiday season, wouldn’t be affected by any government shutdown because it’s an independent agency.
According to flight-tracking data, deportation flights to Guatemala and Honduras have sharply increased this year. And ICE’s budget request for charter flights increased 30 per cent last year compared to the year before.
The agency estimated last year that it spends about US$7,785 per hour on the flights.
ICE shifted to chartering private planes about a decade ago after previously using a government service with the US Marshals. The agency says moving to private flights saves about US$25 million a year and gave it more flexibility. Charter flights also avoid putting large numbers of deported immigrants on commercial planes, which requires buying tickets for deportation officers accompanying them, or holding them in the US for longer than necessary and tying up space in detention centres.
“I don’t want to elongate anybody’s detention with us,” said Pat Contreras, director of enforcement and removal for ICE’s Houston field office. “If a judge says you need to be removed, we should be expeditiously working to execute that order so that person does not spend any