Tear Down Those Walls?

For John, BLUF:  What is the Wall fight about?  The 2020 Race.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Byron York:  In border talks, a new fight for barrier deniers

From The Washington Examiner, by Columnist Byron York, 29 January 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

A House-Senate conference committee is beginning work on a package of border security policies that, it is hoped, can win the support of both Democrats and Republicans.  The final product is certain to include several measures that already have full, bipartisan approval:  more immigration judges, more technology to detect illegal drugs at ports of entry, more humanitarian aid for migrants in custody, etc.

The hang-up, of course, will be a border barrier.  President Trump insists on money — his demand is $5.7 billion — that would build new steel-slat barriers along about 230 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.  About 80 miles of that would replace current, dilapidated, inadequate fencing, while 150 or so miles would cover currently unfenced areas.

On the other side are Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called a border wall "an immorality between nations" and denies evidence that a barrier would increase border security by decreasing the number of illegal crossings into the United States.

If we take the Speaker at her word, and in her utterance she may just be echoing President Ronald Reagan ("Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall), then she should be ensuring the bill has a couple billion dollars to tear down the boarder wall with Mexico, say starting with the 160 miles from the Pacific shore, south of San Diego, to Yuma, Arizona.  That would give us the opportunity to determine if we lose anything in terms of effectiveness without the wall.

It doesn't make sense to me, but Speaker Pelosi has all those staffers helping her.  But, if the wall is morally wrong, then it must come down.  On the other hand, this might just be about 2020, and the Democrats can't afford to give President Trump a win, any win, in light of the fight for 2020.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff