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Also see: Drugs; border adjustment
tax; race; Mexico; immigration;
Undated: The Mexico–United States barrier
(Spanish:
barrera México–Estados Unidos), sometimes colloquially called
the Border Wall, is a series of
vertical barriers along the
Mexico–United States border aimed at
preventing
illegal crossings from Mexico into the United States.[1]
The barrier is not one contiguous structure, but a discontinuous series of
physical obstructions variously classified as "fences" or "walls".
January 26: "People are pouring across our
borders, which is horrible," Trump said. "We have to build a wall. ... Look, I
build some of the greatest buildings in the world. Building a wall for me is
easy. And it would be a wall. It would be a real wall. Not a wall that people
walk over."
June 16: Trump regarding need for border wall ... “You have people coming in,
and I’m not just saying Mexicans, I’m talking about people that are from all
over that are killers and rapists and they’re coming into this country,” ...
“...you have people coming through the border that are from all over. And
they’re bad. They’re really bad,” he said.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-i-would-force-mexico-build-border-wall
June 16:
Donald Trump said Tuesday that if
elected president he will erect a wall along the country’s southern border and
said that taxpayers won’t have to pay a dime for it.
Mr. Trump has
long touted what he sees as his unmatched skills when it comes to building walls
and doing so at the best bang for the buck.
And on Tuesday the 69-year-old added another wrinkle, saying
Mexico will pick up
the tab.
July 13: For more than a
century, innumerable studies have confirmed two simple yet powerful truths about
the relationship between immigration and crime: immigrants are less likely to
commit serious crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of
immigration are associated with lower rates of violent crime and property crime.
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/criminalization-immigration-united-states
August 18: Setting aside the issue of how
the United States might make Mexico pay for a blatant monument to anti-Mexican
sentiment, the idea is flat-out moronic, to use one of The Donald’s favorite
adjectives, like asking the Mongolians to pay for the Great Wall of China.
In the first place, it’s not as if the border is undefended. The United States
spends $3.7 billion per year to keep around 21,000 Border Patrol agents in
the field, and another $3.2 billion on 23,000 inspectors at ports of entry along
the border, a third of which has already been
walled
or fenced off. It is perhaps the most patrolled and highly defended border
anywhere in the world, at least for two closely connected countries at peace
with one another.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/18/donald-trump-immigration-border/
September 1: Donald Trump’s
Shaky Grasp on Immigration ... more unauthorized immigrants have
left the United States than have come in. Careful estimates by the Pew Research
Center show that
the number of undocumented Mexicans living in the United States shrank by
roughly 1.1 million by 2012, from its peak in 2007.
Border Patrol personnel have doubled since 2004, to more
than 21,000. More than 650 miles of fencing has been built, festooned with
sensors and backed up by drones ... immigration enforcement takes up half the
nation’s entire law enforcement budget. The border patrol’s budget alone has
increased more than tenfold since 1970, to nearly $4 billion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/business/economy/trumps-shaky-stance-on-illegal-immigration.html?_r=0
September 14: Donald
Trump's Great Wall — it didn't work for the Ming Dynasty either...
just as the Ming Dynasty’s 13,000-mile wall failed to keep out the Manchurians,
Trump's barricade would likely be an ineffective way of addressing the nation’s
immigration challenges, border experts say.
The U.S. Border Patrol estimates that it already either
catches or turns back nearly 90% of those it observes trying to cross the
border.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/09/14/donald-trump-border-wall/72026830/ -- 2016 --
Back to top February 11: Donald Trump put a price tag on
the wall he wants to build on the 2,000-mile border with Mexico – $8 billion. He
also described the wall in a bit more detail — it would be 1,000 miles long,
made of precast concrete slabs, rising 35 to 40 feet in the air.
Trump has repeatedly said Mexico will pay for the wall, though Mexican leaders
dismiss that as a fantasy. He has suggested that the money would come from
reducing the $50 billion trade deficit with Mexico ...
... just for two raw materials [cement and rebar], we are looking at nearly $2
billion. But of course, the wall would need to be designed, land would need to
be acquired, environmental impact statements would need to be done,
concrete-casting facilities would need to be built, materials would need to be
shipped, and workers would need to be hired, housed and fed.
August 2: President Trump’s plan for an aggressive hiring surge of
15,000 Border Patrol and immigration personnel to help keep out undocumented
immigrants is unrealistic — and the Department of Homeland Security has not made
a case for it, the agency’s watchdog says.
November 17:Trump's border wall may be
collapsing ...
Many congressional Republicans favor a simpler idea — abandon the idea of
building a massive wall and focus instead on other ways to increase border
security.
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trumps-border-wall-may-be-collapsing-231567 -- 2017 --
Back to top January 11: Trump insisted that Mexico will
"reimburse us" for costs of building a wall on the U.S. -- Mexico border, and
insisted that it will be a wall, "not a fence."
Trump's comments came during his first news conference as President-elect on
Wednesday, and he maintained that he would be able to get Mexico to pay for the
wall, eventually, despite flat rejections from Mexican government officials. But
the President-elect said he'd rather build the wall and get payment from Mexico
later.
March 1: A Mexican congressman tweeted
photos of himself at the top of a 30-foot portion of the Mexico-U.S. border wall
this Wednesday to prove a point to President Trump.
March 28: President Donald Trump’s
administration wants the first $1 billion of border wall funding to cover 62
miles, including replacing some existing fencing along the US’ southern border
with Mexico, a media report said. The $999 million requested by the White House
in its budget supplement for just defence and border security spending would
cover just 48 miles of the new wall
http://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/trump-administration-wants-first-1billion-for-border-wall/605389/
April 29: Trump delivered a rousing address to a crowd of supporters in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania instead of attending the White House Correspondents'
Association dinner in Washington. The nearly-hour long speech began with attacks
on the press and covered his tax plan, jobs, the yet-to-be-built wall, trade and
other topics Trump had touted throughout his 2016 campaign.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/29/politics/gergen-trump-speech-cnntv/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist
May 2: The Tohono O'odham Nation's land
resides in the southern part of Arizona and in the Mexican state of Sonora. A
portion of the Tohono O'odham's reservation — a 75-mile stretch of land near the
border — happens to be right in the middle of where President Donald Trump wants
to build the wall. Tribal officials and Tohono O'odham citizens are not in
favor, saying: "Over
my dead body," according to an Arizona Republic story.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-02/president-trump-will-native-american-sovereignty-make-difference-when-you-decide
June 22: "We're thinking
about building the wall as a solar wall so it creates energy and pays for
itself," Trump said at a rally Wednesday night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "And this
way, Mexico will have to pay much less money. And that's good, right?"
Trump had previously floated the solar panel idea during a closed-door meeting
with Republican members of Congress earlier this month, but this was the first
time he'd discussed the idea publicly.
"Pretty good imagination, right?" Trump said at the rally, framing the plan as
"my idea."
Not quite.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/22/politics/donald-trump-immigration-border-wall-iowa-speech/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist
June 23: The notion of adding solar panels to the border wall was
explored in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in March. Vasilis Fthenakis, director of
the Center for Life Cycle Analysis at Columbia University, and Ken Zweibel,
former director of the Solar Institute at George Washington University,
concluded it was “not only technically and economically feasible, it might even
be more practical than a traditional wall.”
They said a 2,000-mile solar wall could cost less than $1 billion, instead of
tens of billions for a traditional border wall, and possibly become “wildly
profitable.” The writers were studying a concept laid out by Homero Aridjis and
James Ramey in the online World Post in December.
July 2: ... when Congress appropriated money
earlier this year to fund the government, opposition from Democrats and some
Republicans alike left the administration empty handed in terms of funding any
new construction ... Building a border wall remains a stated top priority for
President Donald Trump, but thus far he has precious little to show for it.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/02/politics/border-wall-white-house-push/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist
August 4: According to a transcript [leaked
about Trump phone calls] published Thursday by The Washington Post, President
Donald Trump
boasted about his election victory, pressured his Mexican counterpart to
remain quiet about a border wall and called New Hampshire a "drug-infested den"
in a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/04/politics/leaking-donald-trump-democrats/index.html
"If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do
not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that," Trump
said, according to the Post transcript.
August 25:Forget funding the wall, Trump needs the land first ...
On
Tuesday evening, President Trump threatened to shutdown the government over
funding for his border wall proposal. He thundered, “Build
that wall… the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But
believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”
September 13: Late Wednesday, Democratic
leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi said they had "agreed to
enshrine the protections of (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program)
into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the
wall, that's acceptable to both sides." [Of course, Trump is infamous for saying
things he doesn't mean or saying things in a way that mean something he didn't
intend].
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-donald-trump/index.html
September 13: If a deal on some immigration
and border issues happens, it would be the second major agreement between Trump,
Schumer and Pelosi this month following their pact last week to raise the debt
ceiling and extend government funding into December that left the GOP and some
of Trump's closest allies flabbergasted.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-donald-trump/index.html
On Twitter: No deal was made last night on
DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for
consent. Would be subject to vote.
September 14
@realDonaldTrump
September 20:Less than 25% of Republicans in
Congress endorse border wall funding in USA TODAY survey ... President Trump has
been adamant that he needs Congress to approve funding to start building his
border wall, but Republicans on Capitol Hill are far less adamant about
supporting it. When asked by the USA TODAY Network whether they support the
president’s initial $1.6 billion budget request to begin construction, only
69 of the 292 Republicans on Capitol Hill said "yes." Among the rest, three
Republicans said they oppose the money, several evaded a direct answer, and the
rest simply refused to respond to the question.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/20/trump-border-wall-survey-congress-republicans-billions/640196001/
October 9: The White House has tied any new
deal on young undocumented immigrants to a clampdown on illegal immigration,
including a border wall with Mexico.
US President Donald Trump is asking for funding for the wall, speedier
deportations and the hiring of thousands of new immigration officials.
Last month he ended the Obama-era "Dreamer" programme which had protected some
690,000 immigrants.
Leading Democrats in Congress have rejected the latest proposals.
They accused Mr Trump of backtracking on a commitment not to include the border
wall in negotiations over the status of young immigrants, who are mostly from
Mexico and other Latin American countries.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41548363
October 11: [Trump's close friend Thomas]
Barrack, in interviews with The Washington Post, said he has been "shocked" and
"stunned" by some of the president's rhetoric and inflammatory tweets. He
disagrees with some of Trump's proposals, including his efforts to ban
immigrants from certain Muslim countries and his push for a border wall with
Mexico. He wonders why his longtime friend spends so much of his time appealing
to the fringes of American politics.
October 29:The ecological disaster
that is Trump’s border wall: a visual guide ... The wall could cut off a Texas
wildlife refuge and the habitat of big, beautiful cats.
... what is undeniable is that the 654 miles of walls and fences already on the
US-Mexico border have made a mess out of the environment there. They’ve cut off,
isolated, and reduced populations of some of the rarest and most amazing animals
in North America, like the jaguar and ocelot (also known as the dwarf jaguar).
They’ve led to the creation of miles of roads through pristine wilderness areas.
They’ve even
exacerbated flooding, becoming dams when rivers have overflowed.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/4/10/14471304/trump-border-wall-animals
October 31:Crossing California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the border spans nearly
every type of terrain, including cities, farmlands, deserts, mountains, valleys,
reservoirs, and even a National Park. The majority of the border—1,254 miles or
63%—is marked by the Rio Grande River, which flows up to 500 feet wide and 60
feet deep at certain points.3
Only one-third of the land on which the southern
border is located is owned by the federal government or Native American
tribes—the rest is largely state property or farmland owned by individual
ranchers.
In
1970, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty that restricts construction
along the Rio Grande and prohibits disrupting the river’s natural flow. Because
the river itself is the border between the United States and Mexico,
any changes to its flow or course can alter the boundary between the countries.9
As a result, both countries are restricted from building in the river or within
its flood plain if doing so would increase flooding on its banks or affect the
course of the river. Establishing any physical barriers along the Rio Grande
requires either joint approval from the U.S. and Mexico via the International
Boundary and Water Commission or that any structure be built sufficiently inland
to avoid impacting the river.
http://www.thirdway.org/memo/the-state-of-the-southern-border
November 13: In
July, Customs and Border Protection issued a
notice related to a project to shore up existing fencing the Rio Grande
Valley, which ... foreshadowed more to come.
"Using existing funds for
preparatory activities, CBP and (US Army Corps of Engineers) will soon begin
public-facing real estate research activities for (Rio Grande Valley) border
wall requirements in the President's FY 2018 budget," the notice said, citing
in-person research on property records at courthouses.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/13/politics/border-wall-eminent-domain/index.html
Any legislation to address the residency status of "Dreamers," currently in
limbo, "must secure the border with a wall," the president said, flanked by
Republican senators who came to the White House for a meeting on immigration.
January 4: Trump tells GOP senators that
2,200-mile border wall not needed in immigration deal
President Trump on Thursday laid out his demands for an immigration
deal to Republican senators, making clear he doesn't expect Congress to build a
physical 2,200-mile concrete wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Instead, the president wants Congress to increase security along the border by
ratcheting up patrols, surveillance and fencing
January 6: The Trump administration has
proposed spending $18 billion over 10 years to significantly extend the border
wall with Mexico, providing one of its most detailed blueprints of how the
president hopes to carry out a signature campaign pledge.
The proposal by Customs and Border Protection calls for 316 miles (505
kilometers) of additional barrier by September 2027, bringing total coverage to
970 miles (1,552 kilometers), or nearly half the border, according to a U.S.
official with direct knowledge of the matter.
January 6: President Trump refused to back
down from one of his major campaign promises at Camp David on Saturday, assuring
a room full of reporters that Mexico will pay for a southern border wall.
January 6: Caving on a wall or on curbs to
legal immigration in order to protect the dreamers is a wildly lopsided
trade-off in favor of immigration hawks, Democrats said. Polls show upward of 80
percent of the public favors a solution to allow dreamers to remain in the
country, and some Republican lawmakers have said they support a deal –
highlighting the complex politics for the GOP in a midterm-election year.
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/06/trumps-mexico-border-wall-democrats/
January 7: Former Maryland Gov. Martin
O'Malley (D) said it is "morally defensible" for Democrats to approve President
Trump's planned border wall if it means protecting 800,000 DACA recipients
living in the United States.
O'Malley said the wall is unnecessary and said the president has a history of "scapegoating"
immigrants like those coming from Mexico.
But, he said that building a wall as Trump intends is small ball compared to his
party's wish to give DACA recipients the ability to live freely in the country.
"I
don’t think the people of the country believe that [the wall] is needed... But
having to say that, if the trade-off for some legislators is that you have to
accept Donald Trump’s obsession with his big wall, given the stable genius that
he is, in order to make 800,000 people secure in their citizenship in the United
States, I think that’s a morally-defensible trade-off," O'Malley, a 2016
Democratic presidential candidate, said.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/01/07/martin-omalley-trumps-racist-border-wall-ok-trade-democrats-wanting-daca-dreamers
January 8:
Mr. Trump's budget request for a wall
represents more than half of the $33 billion spending blueprint for border
security over the next decade. It either eliminates critical funding for border
security programs or shifts money from them, threatening to leave gaping holes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/us/politics/trump-border-wall-funding-surveillance.html
February 6: Judge criticized by Trump will
hear case on border wall
A federal judge whose impartiality was questioned by then-candidate Donald Trump
because of his Mexican heritage is set to hear a case involving the President's
border wall.
The case, which is being brought by the state of California and multiple groups,
challenges the Department of Homeland Security's power to waive environmental
laws in their construction of a border wall.
February 8: President Donald Trump’s budget
proposal to be unveiled on Monday will include a request for $3 billion as a
down payment on building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, a senior
administration official said on Thursday.
Wall funding has been caught up in a debate over how to protect young
“Dreamers,” people who were brought to the country illegally as children.
February 9:
The federal judge whom President Trump characterized during his campaign as “a
Mexican” and therefore biased against him said he would announce a ruling next
week that could determine whether the government can proceed with its expedited
plans to build a border wall.
February 13: Not just Trump's idea: A short
history on famous walls and the environment
Not all walls have done what they were designed to do, and, most like the Great
Wall of China and Berlin Wall, have ended up as tourist attractions. Historians
and researchers advise there are lessons to be learned from every major wall
including their effects on migration, the environment and history.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/13/politics/history-of-walls/index.html
February 14:... Trump's border
wall won't protect schools from shootings
February 24: President Donald Trump urged
the nation “to all come together” Saturday night as he discussed the Democrats'
FISA rebuttal memo, potential new gun legislation and plans for a border wall in
an exclusive interview with Fox News.
February 25:
President Donald Trump's border wall might not be as long as some originally
envisioned.
Trump
met with several lawmakers for a bipartisan meeting on immigration reform on
Tuesday, where he said natural barriers, like mountains, already on the border,
could make a wall there unnecessary.
March 13:Trump likens border crossers to
‘professional mountain climbers,’ bashes California during wall tour
... While touring a variety of wall options with aides and local law enforcement
officials, Trump explained that he wanted a wall with "some see-through"
capabilities, as well as tops that deter people from climbing over.
"California's sanctuary policies put the entire nation at risk," said Trump.
"They're the best friend of the criminal. That's what exactly is happening. The
criminals take refuge in these sanctuary cities."
March 13:
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called the building of a border wall
Tuesday "medieval technology that doesn't really have a place in the 21st
century."
Becerra told Dana Perino on "The Daily Briefing" that the state's Department of
Justice sued the Trump administration because it does not have the legal
authority - nor the funding - to build such a means of preventing people from
crossing borders. ... they have the right as the federal government to enforce
immigration laws. They don't have the right to tell the state of California that
it must use its law enforcement officers - locally and at the state - to do the
job for them."
Back to top March 22:
Funding for border wall in spending bill divides conservatives and establishment
Republicans
Trump had requested $1.6 billion in funding for the border wall, with additional
money for border technology, and appeared to have secured that in the spending
bill. But a closer look indicates that it differs from what Trump requested.
The $1.6 billion funding offers:
Some $251 million for 14 miles of “secondary fencing” along the southwest border
in the San Diego Sector.
May 8:Trump's wall hasn't
been built yet, but it's already cost local taxpayers millions
Eight prototypes bidding to become the model for President Donald Trump's
proposed border wall cost between $300,000 and $500,000 each to build -- with
the Department of Homeland security footing the bill.
According to the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Sheriff's Department,
the two local agencies have been helping to provide security around the
structures. The majority of the $2.3 million was spent during the one-month
construction phase from September 26 to October 26 of 2017. During that
construction phase, 298 sheriff's deputies were provided for security duties.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/us/border-wall-prototypes-cost-taxpayers/
July 29: President Donald Trump threatened
to push the government into shutdown ahead of the coming appropriations deadline
in September if Congress does not fund his border wall and change the nation's
immigration laws.
"I would be willing to 'shut down' government if the Democrats do not give us
the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery,
Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We
need great people coming into our Country!" Trump tweeted Sunday.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/29/politics/donald-trump-shutdown-wall/index.html
August 23: Authorities in Arizona discovered
$1 million in drugs during a traffic stop -- and officials say that led them to
a nearly 600-foot drug tunnel that runs between a former fast food restaurant
and a private home in Mexico.
The US-Mexico border above the tunnel is protected by two border fences,
according to court documents.
"This tunnel was very well constructed and would have taken this Drug
Trafficking Organization a long time to dig and would have been very expensive,"
court documents state. "This tunnel necessarily required a combination of
several individuals on both sides of the border, engaged in an intricate, risky
transnational conspiracy to construct such a secretive structure."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/us/drug-tunnel-arizona-mexico-trnd/
September 7: In the battle for control of
Congress, President Donald Trump's weapon of choice is fear.
At a rally for Republican Senate nominee Matt Rosendale in Billings, Montana, on
Thursday night, the president warned his faithful that Democrats would raise
their taxes, take their guns, block his wall, abolish the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency, open U.S. borders, end Social Security and cut
Medicare.
He's also warned supporters this summer that the outcome in November could spell
trouble for freedom of speech and religion and the First Amendment — and that if
the GOP loses, violence could follow.
October 8: To attack Dems, Trump blasts
immigration bill that doesn’t exist
“Every single Democrat in the U.S. Senate has signed up for the open borders –
and it’s a bill. And it’s called The Open Borders Bill. What’s going on? And
it’s written by – guess who – Dianne Feinstein.”
December 11: Pelosi brings up Trump
'manhood,' says meeting with him was like 'tinkle contest' with skunk
The Democratic minority leader, who is expected to become Speaker next month,
made the comments after speaking with the president at the White House ... as
soon as she returned from the White House, Pelosi strolled into a closed-door
meeting in the Capitol basement, where fellow Democratic lawmakers were in the
process of selecting committee chairs for the new Congress, and questioned
Trump’s manhood.
“It’s like a manhood thing for him,” she said of the wall, according to an aide
who was present. “As if manhood could ever be associated with him. This wall
thing.”
December 11:
A
scathing
report by the Office of the Inspector General revealed that a consulting
company hired by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to fill thousands of new
jobs to satisfy President Trump's mandate to secure the southern border, is
"nowhere near" completing its hiring goals and "risks wasting millions of
taxpayer dollars."
The audit found that as of Oct. 1 CBP had paid Accenture Federal Services
approximately $13.6 million of a $297 million contract to recruit and hire 7,500
applicants, including Customs and Border Protection officers, Border Patrol
agents, and Air and Marine Interdiction agents. But 10 months into the first
year of a five-year contract Accenture had only processed "two accepted job
offers," according to the report.
Meanwhile, Henry Moak, a senior CBP official, disputed the OIG's findings in a
letter dated Nov. 28. Moak argued that Accenture has successfully "created a
hiring structure, tailored technology solutions to support and manage the hiring
process" and has "recruited thousands of new applicants." Further, Moak claimed
that the suggestion that the changes in the contract were due to a failure on
Accenture's part is "inaccurate." He said the changes were requested by CBP
"because it offered better overall efficiency in our mutual hiring activities."
Additionally, for any cutbacks in Accenture's responsibilities, the agency "made
equitable adjustments to decrease the cost-per-hire."
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/11/675923576/customs-border-and-protection-paid-a-firm-13-6-million-to-hire-recruits-it-hired
December 13: ‘Crypto Congressman’ Floats
Blockchain to Help Fund Trump’s Border Wall
Yesterday, US Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) stated in an interview with NPR that
blockchain technology could potentially be used as a means to fund the border
wall that has become little more than a political football in Congress, with
President Donald Trump recently threatening a government shutdown if
congressional Democrats fail to deliver funding for the national security
project on which he based his presidential campaign.
Davidson and other Republicans have been investigating alternative means to fund
the wall if federal funding fails to materialize. Crowdfunding and voluntary
contributions from the citizenry are one avenue they have been thoroughly
investigating, with Davidson introducing a bill not long ago dubbed “Buy
a Brick, Build the Wall” which would enable the Treasury to accept donations
into a “Border Wall Trust Fund” account it is ordered to establish for the
funding of the border wall.
https://www.ccn.com/crypto-congressman-floats-blockchain-to-help-fund-trumps-border-wall/
December 28: Trump threatens to seal off
US-Mexico border 'entirely' if Congress does not agree funding for a wall
Analysts have warned that closing the border would cost hundreds of millions of
dollars a day, with an estimated $558 billion in goods being transported across
the border in both directions last year.
Such a move would also cause chaos for the nearly half a million people who are
estimated to enter the US through its southern border each day.
As he doubled down yesterday, Mr Trump also reissued threats to shut off aid to
the three Central American countries from which a majority of migrants
attempting to enter the US originate.
"Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but
taking our money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are
doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries -
taking advantage of US for years!" he wrote in one of a series of tweets.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/28/trump-threatens-seal-us-mexico-border-entirely-congress-does/ -- 2019 --
Back to top January 7: Former President Jimmy Carter
denied ever supporting President Donald Trump's border wall, contradicting the
current commander in chief's claim that previous presidents confided they regret
not building a physical barrier on the southern border.
"I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump, and do not support
him on the issue,” Carter said in a
statement released Monday by the Carter Center.
Carter's statement joins other
denials from all other living presidents, with the exception of Barack Obama,
whose spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by POLITICO last week. But
Obama has not met with Trump since the funeral of George H.W. Bush in early
December; they had last met at Trump's 2017 inauguration. efore then.
January 8: Pence Says Trump Thought
Presidents on TV Were Talking Privately to Him
NBC’s Hallie Jackson asked Vice-President Mike Pence to name the former
presidents who had secretly told Trump to build the wall:
“I know the president has said that that was his impression from previous
presidents, previous administrations,” replied Pence. “I know I’ve seen clips of
previous presidents talking about the importance of border security.”
February 15: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
warned Republicans on Thursday that a future Democratic president could declare
gun violence a national emergency.
Her comments to reporters came shortly after the White House said President
Donald Trump would declare a national emergency in order to "build the wall,
protect the border, and secure our great country."
U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., of the Northern District of California,
said those challenging Trump’s actions had a good chance of prevailing on their
claims that the administration is acting illegally in shifting money from other
programs to pay for the wall.
With some contracts already awarded for construction, Gilliam said that allowing
work to go forward before the legal issues have been fully resolved could cause
irreparable harm.
Gilliam ruled in response to lawsuits brought by the Sierra Club and the
Southern Border Communities Coalition.
The plaintiffs sought preliminary injunctions against the administration’s
diversion of billions of dollars meant for other purposes. The plaintiffs
alleged that Trump’s actions violate the constitutional requirement that no
money may be spent without an appropriation from Congress as well as legal
restrictions on the purposes for which funds can be reallocated.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/05/24/california-judge-blocks-trump-border-wall-funding/ -- 2020 --
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