President Trump said it again on Wednesday. If I don’t get a border wall, I’ll shut down the government when it comes time to vote for more money to keep the government running.
Trump echoed what he said in July, but contradicted not only budget chief Mick Mulvaney, who told Republicans just hours before Trump’s latest threat that he had advised the president not to do so, but also himself, speaking to the Daily Caller.
Trump’s remarks to reporters were brief: “If it happens, it happens,” Trump told reporters while meeting with congressional leaders. “If it’s about border security, I’m willing to do anything.”
That, of course, is one reason Trump was elected.
GOP’s Weak Sisters Worry
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), the Washington Post reported, quickly tried to shoot down a shutdown, saying it’s “not in anyone’s interest, and [Trump] knows that.”
Actually, it’s in the taxpayers’ interest, but at any rate, the Post noted, “many government operations are funded only through Sept. 30, giving Congress three weeks to patch together the coalition of lawmakers needed to avoid a partial shutdown”:
Trump wants Congress to appropriate at least $5 billion for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but congressional leaders have told him they will not be able to marshal enough votes to secure any wall funding by the end of the month.
That has led Trump to threaten to shut down the government repeatedly this year.
The Daily Caller reported a different story just yesterday: “I don’t like the idea of shutdowns,” he told the website. “Ultimately, I can do it all in one year. I’d like to get the funding — the full funding — but we have done a lot of work. People don’t realize that. I’ve done it very quietly.” But, he said, “I don’t see even myself or anybody else closing down the country right now.”
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The Post is right about one thing: “Trump has swung back and forth in his government funding strategy, confusing GOP allies as they try to plot an approach.”
Top Republican leaders say the government won’t shut down.
Catch-and-Release Over?
That remains to be seen. Trump knows who elected him. And despite pressure from the open-borders crowd not only on the radical left, but also within his own party, he has tried to stick to his guns.
Just today, the administration announced it would withdraw from the 21-year-old consent decree that controls the detention of illegal-alien families. The administration said its plan will improve their lot. But that’s not all. New regulations would help the government deport more illegal aliens.
Problem is, the Associated Press noted, the decree forces the government to simply release illegal aliens after 20 days: “For decades, because of those restrictions, many parents and children caught trying to slip into the country have been released into the U.S. while their asylum requests wind their way through the courts.”
Trump rightly calls that “catch-and-release.” The new rules would allow detention “until their cases are completed.”
“Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the department’s ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. “This rule addresses one of the primary pull factors for illegal immigration and allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress.”
Earlier this summer, a federal judge in California rejected a request by the administration to modify [the decree] to allow for longer family detention. Administration officials say they have the authority to terminate the agreement, but that is likely to be tested in court.
The chances of the administration withdrawing from the decree and crafting new rules for detaining border-jumping illegals without a court challenge are zero. Leftists will sue to keep the borders open.
Which means the courts will decide. Perhaps, finally, a U.S. Supreme Court with a new justice named Brett Kavanaugh.
Threat In July
On July 29, Trump tweeted that illegal-alien children are often used for evil and that the law must changed: “Please understand, there are consequences when people cross our Border illegally, whether they have children or not — and many are just using children for their own sinister purposes. Congress must act on fixing the DUMBEST & WORST immigration laws anywhere in the world! Vote “R.”
And then Trump tweeted a shutdown threat: “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!”
The government’s money runs out on October 1.
Photo: AP Images
