Trump’s demands and his words are dangerous
President Donald Trump was correct in one assessment he shared with the nation Tuesday night, securing our southern border is a good policy objective.
Illegal border crossings can be dangerous for those who covertly come to America for economic opportunity. The southern border is one of many ways illegal drugs enter our great country. And those in America illegally, some of whom crossed from Mexico without proper documentation, are living in a shadow world where fear of deportation often makes them vulnerable to crime or exploitation.
For years we have supported increased border security for these very reasons, and many Democrats, especially Colorado’s Sen. Michael Bennet, have supported comprehensive immigration reform legislation that included far more federal funding for border security than the paltry $5.7 billion Trump has requested.
No, we don’t disagree with Trump that border security is important. We even supported a proposal brought to Trump by senators early in 2018, one that he ultimately rejected, that did include some money for physical barriers between Mexico and the U.S. at particularly vulnerable points of entry.
We are skeptical, however, that Trump’s wall is the best way to secure our border and we vehemently disagree that it is good for the American people to shut down the entire U.S. government in pursuit of money to build a wall, especially when the Senate had already passed a bipartisan funding plan to keep the government open.
Coloradans should not lose sight of that fundamental fact. Trump’s bad behavior these past 14 days is a precedent that should not be given traction.
One Republican, Colorado’s Sen. Cory Gardner hasn’t lost track of that fact, calling for his fellow lawmakers to reopen the government and then pursue border security as its own legislative negotiation.
We think it’s imperative that Congress remain strong on this issue and not let the president push them past the point of no return, where a threat of a veto on a funding measure can secure the president billions for virtually anything on his or her wish list.
We’ve tried to strike a conciliatory tone in this editorial, in part because comprehensive immigration reform is critical for this nation — critical for dreamers and those with temporary protected status and those who need stability in their employment — and there’s no denying that Trump has brought the issue to the forefront.
But we’d also be remiss if we didn’t address the darker side of the president’s agenda on immigration. Trump is not satisfied to simply talk about the challenges of having an undocumented population among us – he refuses to show those who come here an iota of empathy. On Tuesday night he used a large chunk of his 10 minuted address to demonize entire communities by listing cases where illegal immigrants have committed horrible crimes.
“How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” Trump asks. “To those who refuse to compromise in the name of border security I would ask: ‘Imagine if it was your child, your husband, or your wife whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken.’ ”
Trump’s rhetoric on this issue is out-of-line. We’ve yet to be presented with compelling evidence that heinous crimes are being perpetrated by those here illegally at a rate higher than those crimes occur in our general population.
— The Denver Post, Digital First Media