Alexander: Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste

Democrats will hold the line, seeing the crisis on the border as a political opening to loosen immigration policy and grow their voter constituency pipeline.

When Donald Trump announced his candidacy on 16 June 2015, he made economic growth, fair trade, and border security/immigration reform the centerpieces of his campaign. In his now-familiar brash New York bravado, he declared, “I will build a great wall ― and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me ― and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall.”

After his election in November 2016, he clarified, “For certain areas I would [build a fence], but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate.”

On 25 January 2017, among his earliest initiatives as president, he signed Executive Order 13767, “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” giving direction to the Department of Homeland Security as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enhance border barriers and security. He cited the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

DHS estimated the cost of secure barriers, walls, and fencing along our southern border to be $21 billion — substantially more than the Trump administration’s estimate. DHS also estimated the project would take three years to complete.

In February, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled a state visit to the White House, protesting, “Mexico does not believe in walls. I’ve said time again; Mexico will not pay for any wall.” Clearly not. Generations of American politicians have campaigned on curbing illegal immigration, but did little or nothing about it, believing it would be unpopular with Hispanic and Latino constituencies and bad for business. (In December 2018, Trump declared, “Mexico is paying for the wall because the trade deal is billions and billions of dollars better than the old NAFTA trade deal.”)

That was the beginning of the border debacle that now pits Trump against Democrat Party leaders who gave regular lip service to border security — until Trump made it a centerpiece of his presidential platform.

So, how did we arrive at the current deadlock?