Obama's request for $3.7 Billion to deal with border crisis

Past presidents spoke freely of the need to secure our southern border. Obama called the border situation a "crisis." Clinton called the border crossings "disturbing." Reagan said the illegal immigration problem is "a serious national problem detrimental to the interests of the United States." Bush described the growing illegal crossings problem an "urgent requirement of our national security."

Is there a crisis? Of course. Our border patrol agents cannot keep track of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors which have already crossed into the US and others are still coming by the tens of thousands. These children are at serious risk and our border stations are overwhelmed and unable to properly care for them. Obama called that a CRISIS needing attention with billions in government funding and it is still a crisis today.

marke said:

Past presidents spoke freely of the need to secure our southern border. Obama called the border situation a "crisis." Clinton called the border crossings "disturbing." Reagan said the illegal immigration problem is "a serious national problem detrimental to the interests of the United States." Bush described the growing illegal crossings problem an "urgent requirement of our national security."

Is there a crisis? Of course. Our border patrol agents cannot keep track of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors which have already crossed into the US and others are still coming by the tens of thousands. These children are at serious risk and our border stations are overwhelmed and unable to properly care for them. Obama called that a CRISIS needing attention with billions in government funding and it is still a crisis today.

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So you're saying the emergency existed long before Trump. Why then, did he not declare an emergency before?

rocket88 said:

So you're saying the emergency existed long before Trump. Why then, did he not declare an emergency before?

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Slow? He should have started focusing on the crisis earlier? I'm sure he is doing the best he can. He is certainly more immediately concerned about the poor children than are democrats like Schumer or Pelosi.

marke said:

Slow? He should have started focusing on the crisis earlier? I'm sure he is doing the best he can. He is certainly more immediately concerned about the poor children than are democrats like Schumer or Pelosi.

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If it was an emergency before, then it was an emergency before Pelosi came back to power. You made the the case that it has been an emergency for a while. It's like calling 911 and saying someone had a heart attack 2 weeks ago.

But yeah, Trump is an angel....I'm sure those kids will feel well cared for by a wall.

rocket88 said:

If it was an emergency before, then it was an emergency before Pelosi came back to power. You made the the case that it has been an emergency for a while. It's like calling 911 and saying someone had a heart attack 2 weeks ago.

But yeah, Trump is an angel....I'm sure those kids will feel well cared for by a wall.

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The situation had already been a crisis for years before Obama asked for billions to deal with it in 2014. And it is still a crisis. Trump openly campaigned on the promise to build border walls to begin to finally deal with the ongoing crisis as President. Trump is fulfilling his promise to the American people to secure our border against continued mass illegal immigration. That was a campaign promise so many dozens of politicians made in the past but never kept after elected.

marke said:

Past presidents spoke freely of the need to secure our southern border. Obama called the border situation a "crisis." Clinton called the border crossings "disturbing." Reagan said the illegal immigration problem is "a serious national problem detrimental to the interests of the United States." Bush described the growing illegal crossings problem an "urgent requirement of our national security."

Is there a crisis? Of course. Our border patrol agents cannot keep track of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors which have already crossed into the US and others are still coming by the tens of thousands. These children are at serious risk and our border stations are overwhelmed and unable to properly care for them. Obama called that a CRISIS needing attention with billions in government funding and it is still a crisis today.

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Okay, granted. But no past POTUS went as far as declaring a national emergency just to secure funding for border security initiatives just because he didn't like the funding levels approved by Congress. They either accepted what they got or vetoed the bill and forced Congress to either call a mulligan on the bill or over-ride his veto. What Pres. Trump has done is manufacture a "national emergency" from a "humanitarian crisis" that doesn't reach the level of "imminent threat" requiring calling on our national defense apparatus, i.e., U.S. military. Using military forces at our southern border was merely a prelude to Trump calling a national emergency. He figured if he could get military forces to the border as had been called on during the Obama era not long ago (re: Arizona and Alabama's immigration law debacle) and keep them there especially if "rocks were thrown" forcing the use of military force, then maybe he could declare an imminent threat, thus, national emergency and no one would be able to dispute it.

Problems:

1) U.S. military personnel were bored out of their minds with nothing left to do once laid razor wire and other fortifications were erected along the southern border.

2) No skirmishes broke out between members of the caravan and U.S. military personnel on the southern border.

3) Pres. Trump pulled most if not all active duty/reserve forces from the southern border (Source: Troops at U.S.-Mexican border to start coming home - POLITICO)

#3 alone should be enough to convince people there is no emergency along our southern border.

Pres. Trump violated Art I, Sect. 7 of the Constitution by not sending the border security (spending) bill back to Congress via a presidential veto. Instead, he's gambling that the National Emergency Act trumps him following established constitutional procedure and that the judiciary will back him in the end. I firmly believe he's wrong as the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. As such, he should be held to account to adhere to it.

barack and bill made nothing but nose about the border issues. First and goal on the one yard line and they fumbled. Our President Trump is taking it in for the score and the wall will be here.