Misleading reasons

It’s clear the current government shutdown isn’t about border security or money.

It’s about reality-based versus fear-based governance.

The White House’s argument for the wall rests on three concerns: drugs, terrorists/criminals and vulnerable populations.

Since other government data show that most drugs are smuggled into the US through ports of entry or by boat, a wall is irrelevant to the drug issue.

Similarly, since all the known or suspected terrorists mentioned were stopped at airports or other ports of entry, a wall is mostly irrelevant to terrorism risks.

Concerning vulnerable populations, while large increases in this demographic are true, the numbers from 2017 were unusually low and the numbers from 2018, and other recent years remain low relative to historical averages.

While a wall has taken on totemic significance to the administration’s base and caused desperation in the president to fund it by any means possible, that’s no justification for misleading Congress and the public.

It’s time for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation by vetoproof margins that reopens the government, including appropriate funding for evidencebased border security.

The Senate already did this before the shutdown and the House of Representatives easily could if partisan posturing was set aside for the good of the country. Ken Goodrich Newport News