Trump plans televised address, visit to Mexico border

[webfact]

Trump plans televised address, visit to Mexico border

By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton

 

U.S. President Donald Trump walks before speaking to the media as he returns from Camp David to the White House in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump announced on Monday he would make a prime-time address and visit the U.S.-Mexico border this week as the partial federal government shutdown entered its 17th day after a funding impasse over his demand for money to build a border wall.

 

The moves indicate the Republican president has no intention of backing off his pledge to build a wall that he believes will stem illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Democrats in Congress say a wall would be expensive, inefficient and immoral.

 

However, pressure to reach a deal is likely to grow as the effects of the shutdown are felt, including possible cuts in food stamp programs and delayed tax refunds.

 

Vice President Mike Pence said White House lawyers were evaluating the possibility that Trump could declare a national emergency in order to secure alternate funding for the wall but that Trump had not made a decision on using that tactic. It was unclear what basis Trump could use to declare a national emergency.

 

Trump planned to visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders announced on Twitter without providing details. The visit likely will highlight security concerns pushed by the administration as justification for the wall.

 

A short while after Sanders' tweet, Trump said in his own Twitter post that he will address the nation on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT Wednesday) to discuss what he called a humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern U.S. border.

 

Large chunks of the federal government shut down on Dec. 22 over Trump's demand that a bill to keep the federal government operational include more than $5 billion to pay for a wall along the border with Mexico. About 800,000 government workers have been either furloughed or working without pay since Dec. 22.

 

Trump said on Friday he could declare a national emergency in order to build the wall, which would circumvent Congress' authority over funding for the federal government.

 

The White House did not say whether he planned to make such a declaration, which would almost certainly face a legal challenge, on Tuesday night.

 

Trump directed the White House budget office to take steps to mitigate the effects of the shutdown, including ensuring tax refunds are delivered, Pence told reporters.

 

Pence said Trump also invited Democrats back to the White House to respond to its latest proposal to resolve the standoff over legislation to fund the government.

 

Pence, who participated in weekend discussions on the shutdown, said Democratic staff said there would be no negotiations until the government is reopened.

 

Trump said in December he would be "proud" to shut the government down over the wall and last week told lawmakers it could last months.

 

Trump skipped a planned trip to Florida to stay in Washington during the Christmas and New Year's holidays after large chunks of the federal government were shuttered on Dec. 22. He exhorted Democrats in Congress to "come back from vacation" and approve funding for his wall.

 

Democrats returned to Washington in the new year, taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and passed legislation to reopen all closed government agencies but did not include wall funding. This week, they will pass a series of bills to reopen federal agencies after weekend talks between the Trump administration and Democratic negotiators failed to end a stalemate.

 

On Sunday, Trump pledged not to bend in his demand money for the wall but said the barrier could be made of steel instead of concrete as a potential compromise with Democrats who refuse to fund it.

 

Trump has argued the wall is necessary for national security and has tried to link terrorism to illegal immigration, without providing evidence, as justification for the plan. Democrats say there has been no evidence of suspected terrorists coming through the southern border and that Trump has no grounds to declare a national emergency over the issue.

 

Democrats say other border security measures are more efficient and cost-effective than a wall, which they say is contrary to American values.

 

Trump visited the southern border last March.

 

Trump has previously given three prime-time televised addresses and two during the day, according to data compiled by CBS News.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Doina Chiacu, Roberta Rampton; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Bill Trott)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-08

[TopDeadSenter]

This is going to be awesome. I believe he will state (correctly) that the open southern border is the greatest threat to American security existing today. In light of this, he will use an executive order and the military to get this wall done asap. I read 95% of border security guards are pro wall - well they should know. 

 What I can't understand is why he doesn't just freeze all foreign aid, its a huge sum something like 50bn buck a year, and spend it all on the wall. It could be diamond encrusted if we reroute all the money we splash on 3rd world dictators back to the nation's security. Well that's where I would start. Good luck Trump, and don't forget to Tweet the news for extra exposure.

[simple1]

How many lies and misinformation during his address? Be interesting to review the factcheck after his presentation. I'm not American, but due to the damage trump is going to his society, the world, including my home country, can't wait to see the back of him and his awful sycophants and enablers in 2020.

[Chomper Higgot]

It’s a distraction- the truth is about to hit the fan.

[sirineou]

8 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

This is going to be awesome. I believe he will state (correctly) that the open southern border is the greatest threat to American security existing today. In light of this, he will use an executive order and the military to get this wall done asap. I read 95% of border security guards are pro wall - well they should know. 

 What I can't understand is why he doesn't just freeze all foreign aid, its a huge sum something like 50bn buck a year, and spend it all on the wall. It could be diamond encrusted if we reroute all the money we splash on 3rd world dictators back to the nation's security. Well that's where I would start. Good luck Trump, and don't forget to Tweet the news for extra exposure.

Since most of the illegal aliens, drugs, and terrorists come through the air, don't you think that instead of building a wall we should be building a roof?

  if at any time the president needed to get something done he declared "National emergency" why would he need to ever go to Congress? even more why did he wait so long and shut the government down? if such an "national emergency exist" why did he not do it months or even years ago? 

  The truth of the matter is that he has shown no empathy for all the federal employees, and contractors that are not getting payed, his minions told him that it is not playing well , and now he will read a speech someone else wrote for him and then pull a political stunt by visiting the border.

Good luck!!

[keemapoot]

Wouldn't surprise me if he schedules another one of his sophomoric pep rallies providing free buses to the border, to coincide with the visit to further whip his base into a frenzy.

[TopDeadSenter]

18 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Since most of the illegal aliens, drugs, and terrorists come through the air, don't you think that instead of building a wall we should be building a roof?

Much of that traffic eventually makes landfall, and then it's "going pretty easily through Mexico and ... almost entirely crossing the land border" in the US, said Adam Isacson, senior associate for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-drugs-are-getting-smuggled-from-south-america-to-the-us-2017-9

 

I will repeat for clarity "almost entirely crossing the land border".

 

Would you like to review you false statement on most drugs coming trough the air? And I am sure I can scupper your claim that illegal aliens and terrorists come through the air also just as easily. If I had something major to hide I would not be flying through high security airports, I'd just pop over the border too. And if caught there is always the "I'm a refugee" card to play, which I learn on this forum, makes illegally crossing the US border a legal act. Insanity but there you go.

[Longcut]

37 minutes ago, simple1 said:

How many lies and misinformation during his address? Be interesting to review the factcheck after his presentation. I'm not American, but due to the damage trump is going to his society, the world, including my home country, can't wait to see the back of him and his awful sycophants and enablers in 2020.

Yup, that's right. Blame Trump and America for your countries problems. What a baby you are. Blaming others for your problems. You are definitely a liberal.

[neeray]

As I intensely follow this drummed up need for a wall by man-child, the age old nursery rhyme HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL, HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL ....... keeps coming to mind.

 

I think there may be a message here.

 

[sirineou]

16 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Much of that traffic eventually makes landfall, and then it's "going pretty easily through Mexico and ... almost entirely crossing the land border" in the US, said Adam Isacson, senior associate for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-drugs-are-getting-smuggled-from-south-america-to-the-us-2017-9

 

I will repeat for clarity "almost entirely crossing the land border".

 

Would you like to review you false statement on most drugs coming trough the air? And I am sure I can scupper your claim that illegal aliens and terrorists come through the air also just as easily. If I had something major to hide I would not be flying through high security airports, I'd just pop over the border too. And if caught there is always the "I'm a refugee" card to play, which I learn on this forum, makes illegally crossing the US border a legal act. Insanity but there you go.

 tell me what you think

 

[Hanaguma]

This all seems to be a prelude to the President using his emergency powers to fund the border wall, rather than going through Congress. Seeing as how the Democrats refuse to even talk about the situation, it may be the only path forward. It's a bad idea really in the long run, the best answer is for Congress to pass a budget that includes funding. Unfortunately however, the precedent has been set by previous Presidents, who used executive powers to ram their pet policies through without consulting Congress.

[sirineou]

15 minutes ago, Longcut said:

Yup, that's right. Blame Trump and America for your countries problems. What a baby you are. Blaming others for your problems. You are definitely a liberal.

You forgot to say "and a poopy head" LOL

[neeray]

Just now, sirineou said:

 tell me what you think

 

Perfect response Sirineou. Even CNN thanked Chris Wallace of FOX for this fine piece of work.

[keemapoot]

13 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

This all seems to be a prelude to the President using his emergency powers to fund the border wall, rather than going through Congress. Seeing as how the Democrats refuse to even talk about the situation, it may be the only path forward. It's a bad idea really in the long run, the best answer is for Congress to pass a budget that includes funding. Unfortunately however, the precedent has been set by previous Presidents, who used executive powers to ram their pet policies through without consulting Congress.

Yup, clearly Trump is "going to the wall" with this as it's an existential issue with his base. His legal counsel are assembling their best case to defend it, and I expect him to invoke emergency powers, and then "Bar the door Katy." Sh!t will hit the fan and the country will be plunged deeper into crisis.

 

Sure, other presidents have pushed through pet projects, but nobody got away with declaring a national emergency where there wasn't one.

 

*Actually, I hope he does do this, because it adds more fuel to impeachment actions. There will be a point at which these dictator-type actions will be stopped, even by Senate Republicans. 

 

Quote

Goitein also cautioned that a resort to emergency powers in the current situation — in the midst of a standoff with lawmakers that has produced a partial government shutdown — could be considered an abuse of the president's power.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/07/682965555/fact-check-can-trump-use-emergency-powers-to-build-the-wall

[Boon Mee]

27 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Much of that traffic eventually makes landfall, and then it's "going pretty easily through Mexico and ... almost entirely crossing the land border" in the US, said Adam Isacson, senior associate for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-drugs-are-getting-smuggled-from-south-america-to-the-us-2017-9

 

I will repeat for clarity "almost entirely crossing the land border".

 

Would you like to review you false statement on most drugs coming trough the air? And I am sure I can scupper your claim that illegal aliens and terrorists come through the air also just as easily. If I had something major to hide I would not be flying through high security airports, I'd just pop over the border too. And if caught there is always the "I'm a refugee" card to play, which I learn on this forum, makes illegally crossing the US border a legal act. Insanity but there you go.

Drugs, terrorism, child molesters and a whole slew of criminals definitely use the land crossing method. 

The Wall is critical to securing the safety of Americans. 

[Hanaguma]

A lot of the trouble dates back to 9/11. Bush the Younger declared a national state of emergency soon after, which is still in effect today. It is renewed yearly by the President, and has been under Bush, Obama, and now Trump. It gives the President some extraordinary power over the economy, basic freedoms, and finances. 

 

Remember Obama's famous declaration, "I have a pen and a phone", which was a declaration of the powers of the chief executive? It shows the problems of not seeing things long term. Powers you may like 'your' president to have will unfortuantely also be powers that presidents you don't like will be able to wield in the future.

[riclag]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

Since most of the illegal aliens, drugs, and terrorists come through the air, don't you think that instead of building a wall we should be building a roof?

  if at any time the president needed to get something done he declared "National emergency" why would he need to ever go to Congress? even more why did he wait so long and shut the government down? if such an "national emergency exist" why did he not do it months or even years ago? 

  The truth of the matter is that he has shown no empathy for all the federal employees, and contractors that are not getting payed, his minions told him that it is not playing well , and now he will read a speech someone else wrote for him and then pull a political stunt by visiting the border.

Good luck!!

Hear so much about the decline of illegal entry and the majority of illegality  coming through the air, regardless there is a need for a wall for the obvious reasons below!It's been goin on for decades ! Past administrations have unsuccessfully tried to handle it! It is a definite threat,why else would past administrations try to use force to stop it ! The security threat is forming in masses and many in those formation's don't want to wait in line ! I want a big impenetrable wall with all the bells and whistles 

"There’s no official measure of how many people succeed in illegally crossing the border, but authorities use the number of apprehensions to gauge changes in illegal immigration. Apprehensions on the Southwest border peaked in 2000 at 1.64 million and have generally declined since, totaling 303,916 in 2017.

Those numbers, which come from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are for fiscal years and date back to 1960".

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/illegal-immigration-statistics/

[LomSak27]

19 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Drugs, terrorism, child molesters and a whole slew of criminals definitely use the land crossing method. 

The Wall is critical to securing the safety of Americans. 

I thought securing the middle east, getting rid of Saddam and turning Iraq into a democracy was critical to insure the safety of Americans and the USA?

 

Hmmm maybe I am getting my Republican Presidents confused?  

[Tug]

Many of the networks here aren’t going to carry Donald’s address because it isent based on fact most of us here in America are growing tired of his fear mongering rasist rants 

[jollyhangmon]

52 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 tell me what you think

 

 

"... America values every live, that's what sets us apart from EVERY other country ..."

 

What??  Dumb cow ... BS like that really flies in the USofA?? 
Your 'emergency' clearly lies in the educational sector then ...!

[Credo]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Much of that traffic eventually makes landfall, and then it's "going pretty easily through Mexico and ... almost entirely crossing the land border" in the US, said Adam Isacson, senior associate for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-drugs-are-getting-smuggled-from-south-america-to-the-us-2017-9

 

I will repeat for clarity "almost entirely crossing the land border".

 

Would you like to review you false statement on most drugs coming trough the air? And I am sure I can scupper your claim that illegal aliens and terrorists come through the air also just as easily. If I had something major to hide I would not be flying through high security airports, I'd just pop over the border too. And if caught there is always the "I'm a refugee" card to play, which I learn on this forum, makes illegally crossing the US border a legal act. Insanity but there you go.

From your link:

 

Much of the cocaine from the region — Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru are the world's biggest producers — travels to the US, plying sea and air routes in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, as shown by the map below, which was prepared by US Southern Command and displayed at the hearing.

 

Narcotics are carried by a variety of ships, from normal commercial or fishing vessels to rudimentary submarines, or narco subs, built by traffickers in isolated parts of Colombia.

 

But "primarily, it's what we call pangas," Vice Adm. Charles Ray, the Coast Guard deputy commandant for operations, said during the hearing. "Those are pretty well purpose-built opened boats, anywhere from 25 to 35 feet long with multiple outboard engines."

And much of the narcotics going across the border are going right through the port-of-entry.   Others have been going through tunnels under the border.   

 

As the article also states some are taken out to sea and then brought in further up the coast.   

 

You can see the ingenuity of the drug cartels and a wall isn't going to stop them.   It isn't going to even slow them down.   

 

I don't think it's very easy to traffic a ton of cocaine by trekking it through a few hundred miles of open desert and then crossing to a point where there are no roads and getting it to the intended market.   

 

 

 

 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed.

 

[neeray]

7 minutes ago, Tug said:

Many of the networks here aren’t going to carry Donald’s address because it isent based on fact most of us here in America are growing tired of his fear mongering rasist rants 

Or maybe those networks won't carry it Tug because they know whatever he says will be FAKE news.

 

(what goes around comes around)

[JAG]

59 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

This all seems to be a prelude to the President using his emergency powers to fund the border wall, rather than going through Congress. Seeing as how the Democrats refuse to even talk about the situation, it may be the only path forward. It's a bad idea really in the long run, the best answer is for Congress to pass a budget that includes funding. Unfortunately however, the precedent has been set by previous Presidents, who used executive powers to ram their pet policies through without consulting Congress.

I rather got the Impression that the Democrats have talked about "The Great Wall of Trumpton". Haven't they said that they have concluded that it is unnecessary, and better results could be obtained for less expenditure by using more modern techniques. Haven't they offered to pass funding for that? By my reckoning that is definitely talking about it.

[LomSak27]

Just now, Credo said:

You can see the ingenuity of the drug cartels and a wall isn't going to stop them.   It isn't going to even slow them down.   

Ahh so its about Drug Cartels now,  Immigrants are a little too la-de-da .. the threat has ramped up ... no time left, POTUS to the Border!! TV cameras Follow

 

Tigers vs the Crimson Tide is up ... sorry continue with your hysterical bull excrement like blathering, I'll catch up.

 

IT'S GAME TIME!!

[neeray]

14 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

Ahh so its about Drug Cartels now,  Immigrants are a little too la-de-da .. the threat has ramped up ... no time left, POTUS to the Border!! TV cameras Follow

 

Tigers vs the Crimson Tide is up ... sorry continue with your hysterical bull excrement like blathering, I'll catch up.

 

IT'S GAME TIME!!

This is like the final season of The Apprentice.

Get the popcorn out and enjoy the greatest reality show on television,

Live From the Border with DJT.

[OneMoreFarang]

I think he should spend more time with a psychologist talking about his problems. I don't have much hope that his condition can be improved within weeks or months, but at least in that time he does not do any further damage.

Or how the Americans like to say: May god bless America and especially Trump. He really really needs some blessings.

[CanuckThai]

Interesting and dramatic, as always.  I'm still trying to figure out, who is not getting their fair shake at the trough if a wall is built.  What is the negative if secure border access points are created, controlled and immigration requirements enforced?  The cost of building a wall is a drop in the bucket (a very deep, perhaps bottomless bucket). 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/14/us-has-spent-5point9-trillion-on-middle-east-asia-wars-since-2001-study.html

 

[bristolboy]

3 minutes ago, CanuckThai said:

Interesting and dramatic, as always.  I'm still trying to figure out, who is not getting their fair shake at the trough if a wall is built.  What is the negative if secure border access points are created, controlled and immigration requirements enforced?  The cost of building a wall is a drop in the bucket (a very deep, perhaps bottomless bucket, but nonetheless only a drop). 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/14/us-has-spent-5point9-trillion-on-middle-east-asia-wars-since-2001-study.html

 

Are you wondering at all about who is not getting their fair shake at the trough if a wall is not built? Yours was truly a bizarre and obviously biased observation.

And the biases keep on coming. The question isn't whether it's a negative if secure border access points are created, controlled, and immigration requirements enforced. The question is whether or not it's possible without huge expense. Just staffing alone poses a huge problem. As anyone moderately familiar with the issue knows, corruption of Immigraton officers is a huge problem. To make a lot of money all an immigration officer has to do is look the other way.  It takes a long time to vet each applicant for the job. And how many  acccess points do you think are necessary along a 2000 mile border to make it secure.

The cost of building a wall is indeed a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of staffing it and maintaining it. And as most security experts know without a huge number of agents to staff it, it will be ineffective.

[Trouble]

Who is Reuters hiring to do their writing.  The story could have been written in two paragraphs. All the extraneous stuff adds nothing to the point of the story.