Here we go again

Signs of the Christmas season are all around us: the holly, the tinsel, the twinkling lights, the carols, and yet another threat of a federal government shutdown.

Republicans and Democrats, as per usual representing party interests as opposed to serving Americans, have been unable to come to an agreement on the federal budget.

One of the biggest bones of contention is the border wall — a project Donald Trump insisted Mexico would pay for when he was running for president and one now that is being used to hold his own country hostage.

Congressional Democratic leaders were recent protagonists of a televised debate held with Trump at the Oval Office. Vice President Mike Pence was also on hand, functioning primarily as an observer during the exchange.

At the heart of the debate was President Trump’s demand to include $5 billion to build the border wall, a project Democrats fiercely oppose.

More importantly, more than half of the American people oppose it, and yet the White House continues to ignore them. And it persists in championing a project that probably won’t have the desired results anyway, given the tricks used by international criminal organizations to circumvent the law.

According to a poll released by USA Today 54 percent of Americans oppose a government shutdown while only 29 percent approve. That same poll shows Trump and the Republicans as the ones to blame. This would be the third government shutdown under Trump’s presidency, all of them this year.

However, it seems the New York billionaire has decided to step back in the wall project to avoid the closure of government.

This shutdown would have affected hundreds of thousands of public employees who would get no paycheck before Christmas. While that’s unlikely to be a major issue in Imperial County, that doesn’t necessarily reduce our region’s stake in this drama.

According to President Trump the goal of the wall is basically to prevent immigrants crossing the border inappropriately and save American taxpayers more than $115 billion.

“Time for us to save billions of dollars a year and have, at the same time, far greater safety and control!” the president declared on Twitter.

Even though he does not say it clearly, it is obvious that by reducing undocumented immigration to zero the job performed by Border Patrol agents would not be required anymore. The fact is, maintaining a large border force to protect the homeland against nobody is, simply put, a waste of taxpayer money.

Let’s suppose the wall is built, illegal immigration is eliminated and the Border Patrol’s job is significantly reduced. Hundreds of local Border Patrol officers would no longer be needed, and all the small businesses that provide services to the agency would not be required, either.

Another significant impact would come from our Border Patrol officers’ purchasing power. Most of them have incomes way higher than those earned by average residents. The impact of taking those dollars out of the local economy on real estate, education, restaurant business and retail sales is hard to imagine.

Let me be clear on this — the question here is not whether building the wall would be wise from a political, moral or ethical standpoint. I’m only talking economics right now. Would the wall actually save as much money as the businessman in the White House believes it would?

Perhaps if clandestine immigration were to be reduced to zero, a lot of Border Agents would find new homes in other agencies

Hopefully when clandestine immigration gets reduced to zero if that wall is built many agents be transferred to other agencies, but it’s not likely many of those transfers would be local.

Whether we like it or not, Border Patrol agents represent a significant engine to our local economy.