Democrats want to skip right over these facts.
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.
Pelosi won the 35-day partial government shutdown by sticking to her position. The new negotiations will test whether she and other Democratic barrier deniers can prevail again.
The need for new and improved barriers along some parts of the border is in the news almost daily. Take, for example, the events of Jan. 24 near Lukeville, Ariz., in the Tucson Sector of the border. Even though there is a six-lane crossing at Lukeville, migrants seek to enter the United States illegally in nearby areas that have ineffective fencing. Thus, on the 24th, Border Patrol agents found a large group — 242 people, most from Central America — who illegally crossed the border west of Lukeville.
“Agents discovered the group after they crawled over and under the crude vehicle barrier separating the United States from Mexico,” the Border Patrol said in a press release.