Would that include Donald Trump, or does he get to exercise executive privilege?
Would it? Because it seems like most of the actual terrorist attacks executed by foreign actors have involved people who obtained legal avenues to enter the United States (student visas, spousal visas, et cetera). “Rapists and other violent criminals” are less prevalent among immigrants than they are in the legal population per capita. And traffickers have never seemed to have a problem bringing in illegal drugs by various means such as low level flights, cigarette boats, submarines, smuggling concealed within legal imports, drug mules, et cetera. Drug mules in particular are frequently motivated by assistance in legally immigrating to the United States and reforming immigration processes could significantly reduce that route without building any unworkable multibillion dollar wall.
You can’t possibly be that dense to think he promised to build the Great Wall of Mexico as a singular structure anymore than President Hoover literally meant a chicken in every pot.
He certainly went to a remarkable degree of trouble describing how yes, he was literally going to build an actual, physical wall, with guard towers and tunnelling sensors, along the entire Mexican border. Not one honest person in world for whom English is a first language, listening to his wall comments, would think he was speaking metaphorically.
Donald Trump absolutely, beyond any doubt or question, meant for his listeners to take it that he would have an honest-to-God impassable wall built along the Mexican border. He may have been lying, but he was not speaking figuratively.
Are you asking if a new law fining employers who hire illegal aliens could be retroactively applied to everyone who had ever hired illegal aliens? I don’t believe that is possible, but you can try.
Low level flights, cigarette boats, submarines, and smuggling concealed within legal imports would actually be more difficult, and costly, for drug smugglers, as opposed to simply walking across somewhere along a very long border.
AFAIK, terrorists are looking to take advantage of any weak point in the system. They are not limited to using the same ol’ tactics they’ve used in the past. Strengthening those weak points is one way to make the entrance of terrorist more difficult.
Regardless of the prevalence of “rapists and other violent criminals” among border crossers, “rapists and other violent criminals” should not be allowed to enter the U.S.A… They would be less difficult to spot/identify if they are funneled thru official border crossings.
A “big, beautiful wall” covering our entire Southern border will never be built. The Mexicans will never pay for it and Congress is not going to cough up 20 billion dollars either.
That leaves Trump a difficult problem that requires a solution worthy of PT Barnum. He likes fake props that “prove” his point. Remember the news conference with “Trump” steaks and, more recently, blank printer paper in manila folders that was supposed to represent blind trust legal documents.
The solution will be to create a cheap portable wall made of Styrofoam bricks. It only needs to be about 500 yards long. When Trump does his wall inspection victory tour, the wall can be hastily assembled in each town for a quick photo op with his gullible supporters. Then it can be torn down and reassembled before he appears in the next town.
Trumpers will believe he kept his promise when they see the pictures. It will be comedy gold for the rest of us.
Of course, the real excitement will happen when he starts selling commemorative Make America Great Again Styrofoam bricks for only $19.99 from his website. These will sell by the millions and will fund his 2020 campaign. :eek:
The “illegal immigration problem” could be solved instantly by penalizing people who hire them. And I don’t mean a bullshit fine that an employer can ignore like a parking ticket - they need to go to fucking jail.
If we’re not willing to go that far, then we have to admit that illegal immigration just isn’t that serious a problem! So, is it a serious problem or isn’t it? If it is, the owner of the business, or CEO of the corporation, gets six months in federal prison for every invalid SSN that slips through the cracks, up to ten years. If it isn’t, then quit complaining about it!
“Oh, but the farmers need to make a profit, the economy would suffer, won’t someone think of the poor employers…”
So, we need illegal immigration then? If we need these people for the sake of the economy, then why the fuck are we complaining that they’re here?
OK, I received a box truck full of aftermarket aluminum rims from Irene that I plan to retail for a huge profit in my totally legitimate auto parts store. Prove beyond a reasonable doubt I knew they were stolen.
Criminal justice system? Probably less and less money over time, since the more people who go to jail over it, the fewer people will try to get away with it.
Economy in general? I assume it would be pretty bad. But illegal immigration is even worse, right? That’s what I keep hearing from the “build the wall” people, isn’t it? Because if it weren’t as big a problem as these people are saying, then the whole idea would be pretty stupid. But then again, so would all draconian anti-undocumented immigrant policies, especially building a useless wall.
Odd that I can’t find anyone I know (who voted for him) who thought this.
I suppose there were people expecting a chicken in the mail from Hoover.
What the voters expect from Trump is enforcement of immigration laws and a reduction in illegal border crossings. That means adding to the 700 miles of wall that was recently put up as well as increased border patrols and drone patrols.
I don’t know which is sadder, the Democrats who think it means just a wall or those who think they can somehow cause division among Trump supporters with some kind of political “gotcha”. If you haven’t noticed, illegal border crossings are down 40% in the few months he’s been in office.
And what does that say about the listening comprehension skills of those people who voted for him? He said he was building a wall out of concrete, putting guard towers on it, and putting underground sensors beneath it to detect tunneling. How does that mean what you claim? And don’t you supposedly like this man because he says what he means?
It says the same thing of those who didn’t expect a chicken delivered to them. That was understood by people with good comprehension skills to mean prosperity and not an actual chicken.
Trump’s promise to build a wall means a program aimed at reducing illegal border crossings. That would include expanding the current wall project, increasing border patrols and using technology in a cost effective manner. To do otherwise would be pointless.
And how do you differentiate between the promises that were expected to be taken explicitly–such as bringing back coal mining jobs or using only domestically produced steel in infrastructure projects–and ones that were only “metaphorical”, such as this “wall” or killing the families of terrorists? Oh, I know…he’ll “keep us in suspense”.
You will not find something you’re closing your eyes and refusing to look for. Give me a break. Millions of people believed in the wall. Men were talking about how they were hopeful they’d get jobs building it.
Even you don’t believe this nonsense. Trump promised an actual wall, and has gone into detail about it. People believed him by the millions - including the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump obviously didn’t mean that he would have the greatest healthcare plan, coverage for everyone, so maybe the apologists have a point: you can’t trust a single goddamn thing that moron says.