A National Emergency and Border Security

Justin Smith explains how President Trump is using his authorized National Emergency power to keep making America great again despite of Dem Party subversion to keep America weak.

JRH 2/17/19

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A National Emergency and Border Security

President Trump Counters Bad Border Deal 

By Justin O. Smith

Sent 2/15/2019 9:08 PM

"We want to have a safe country. I ran on a very simple slogan – ‘Make America Great Again.’ If you're going to have drugs pouring across the border, if you're going to have human traffickers pouring across the border in areas where we have no protection, in areas where we don't have a barrier, then, [it is] very hard to make America great again." ~ President Donald J. Trump, Rose Garden Speech February 15th 2019

President Trump simultaneously declared a national emergency for humanitarian and national security reasons along the border. In the same breath, he noted on February 15th that he would sign the omnibus bill and the bad Border Deal it contains; and in fact, he signed it shortly afterwards, acquiring authority over the $1.375 billion appropriated for the wall, while declaring his intention to spend eight billion more dollars through his authority under the national emergency declaration. 

The President was left with very little choice from an intransigent, duplicitous Democratic Party leadership in control of the House, at the moment, such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had vowed "not $1 for the wall". He took a head on approach to avoid another partial government shutdown, however unwise a course it may be, while he diverts $6.5 billion to build portions of the wall that the Democrats have refused to authorize.

Americans across the board want The Wall built. These Democrats are against the American people and against U.S. Sovereignty. [Blog Editor: In November 2016, Donald Trump was elected President largely on the promise of a big beautiful wall. YET most recent polls show American disfavor for a border wall. Why? No one can give a definitive answer (unless of course you are a lying Leftist). But here is something to mull over as you hear the Left-Stream Media quote polls most Americans do not want a wall: Those same polls back in November 2016 told Americans Crooked Hillary would win the vote to become President. Those polls were wrong then and I STRONGLY suspect those polls are wrong NOW!]

The Republican Party got smoked and beaten badly in this deal. Who in the Hell was negotiating for them?

Making the declaration was a strong move for national security and to gain further momentum for the Republicans leading up to the 2020 election, since the Border Deal was a farce of a deal, that only funded 55 miles of the wall, rather than the 200 miles requested. 

During his speech on Friday at the White House Rose Garden, President Trump stated: "We're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we're going to do it, one way or another. We have to do it. ... We're talking about an invasion of our country."

Many previous presidents have declared national emergencies prior to this, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama. There were already 31 active national emergencies in the U.S., before President Trump's declaration marked the 32nd.

One should also note, when Obama used his pen to counter U.S. immigration law and implement DACA, to safeguard Illegal Aliens, he eroded U.S. sovereignty, and he went against the Constitution and the express will of the American people. On the other hand, President Trump's actions are in line with his Constitutional edict to defend and protect U.S. borders and the Constitution.

However, the abdication of Congress, in the face of this and many other dire problems, i.e. out-of-control spending, and its relinquishing of its own power and authority over the decades, gave all previous presidents extraordinary power to act in the face of a national emergency, through numerous laws passed by Congress. President Trump has referred to the 1976 National Emergencies Act found at 50 U.S. Code 1601-1651.

In light of all this, there is still no way to see this so-called compromise as a anything less than a major loss, once one views the fine print in the Border Deal, which is even worse than it first appeared. It's the fine print that should have had Republicans turning their backs on this deal. And it's no wonder the Democrats were in such a rush to sign, not just to avoid a shutdown.

Not even 24 hours had elapsed from the introduction of the 1,169 page bill to the vote. House rules require 72 hours for representatives to review a bill.

According to Daniel Horowitz, writing at Conservative Review, the bill limits construction to just the Rio Grande Valley sector, disallowing any concrete barriers, while section 231 of the bill prohibits construction even within this area in five locations, that are either state or federal lands. And, much worse, this bill gives veto power to local officials, who may not want the wall in their area. 

The Rio Grande area is in dire need of significant security measures and an actual physical wall. However, it is home to some of some of the most hardcore "progressive" liberals, and giving these local Democrat satraps a veto over the wall is nothing less than a poison pill.

Prior to the President signing the bill, former border officials told Fox News, and several other media outlets, that expanded protections for potential sponsors of unaccompanied migrant children were "land mines" that make the bill worthy of a presidential veto. 

The Border Deal is one massive betrayal of the American people, in what Daniel Horowitz framed as "a blatant amnesty for the world's worst cartel smugglers. Section 224 (a) prohibits the deportation of anyone who is sponsoring an "unaccompanied" minor illegal alien; anyone who says they might sponsor an Unaccompanied Child, and anyone who lives in a household with a UAC or a household that potentially might sponsor a UAC. ... "the very people paying the cartels to invade us." 

This invasion is driven by the intentional skewing of the UAC law, that sets forth what constitutes a true "refugee". Central American teenagers are only supposed to be treated as refugees, if they are a victim of sex and drug trafficking or have no relatives in America, and yet, nearly each and every one of them is self-trafficked by their own extremely illegal relatives, who reside in America. Rather than saying "No Deal" or forcing much needed changes to the bill, the Republicans went ahead with this miserable fleecing of the American people, which rewards these Illegal Aliens with a de facto amnesty.

And from the Center for Immigration Studies, Jessica Vaughn's interpretation was even grimmer: "We can call this the MS-13 Household Protection Act of 2019."

In justifying his emergency declaration, President Trump repeatedly acknowledged and honored the presence of the Angel Moms in attendance, as he retold the stories of their children's deaths at the hands of Illegal Aliens. Some of the Angel Moms in the Rose Garden urged the president not to sign the bipartisan bill, noting that it contained several measures that incentivized illegal immigration.

At one point in his speech President Trump exclaimed:

"We're talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs. We have some of the greatest people here; I know -- they've been with me from the beginning of my campaign, almost from the first week -- the Angel Moms. Unfortunately, we have new Angel Moms.

One incredible woman just showed me her daughter who -- we're talking about killed -- in the year of 18. I said, I haven't seen you before. She said, 'No, I'm new.' I said, that's too bad. It's too bad. It's so sad. Stand up, just for a second. Show how beautiful your girl was [in the picture she held]. Thank You."

The President called his actions necessary given the scale of the problem along the southern border, as he responded to CNN Jim Acosta's suggestion that he had "concocted" an emergency for political gain, whereupon the President responded: "Ask these women [Angel Moms] if there's a national emergency."

He expects to be met by numerous legal challenges, even as the ACLU sharpens its pencil. He also expects to win in the Supreme Court.

Under the Emergency Declaration, President Trump  will attempt to appropriate discretionary military funds to close the gap between the nearly $1.4 billion Congress appropriated for The Wall and the $5.7 billion he has long demanded. However, now the president is reaching for $8 billion, by taking $600 million from the Treasury, the Treasury forfeiture front and $2,5 billion out of the Defense Department. His staff is also looking at using drug interdiction funds and the $3.5 billion they discovered in the military construction budget, that certainly won't conflict with the President's constitutional mandate to defend America.

Declaring the emergency also puts a companion statute in motion -- 10 U.S. Code 2808, that gives the president authority to create military construction projects using funds appropriated for other military projects, such as a $10 billion account approved by Congress last September, for the Army Corps of Engineers, with its military and civilian workforce of 37,000 people.

Once he declares an emergency, a companion statute, 10 U.S. Code 2808, says the president can create military construction projects, using funds originally intended for other military projects such as a $10-billion account that Congress approved last September. That money involves the Army Corps of Engineers, with its military and civilian workforce of 37,000 people, which is why a border wall might become a military project

Love him or hate him, no one can say that President Donald Trump isn't standing up for America. He isn't usurping any powers, not when Congress gave it to him, because they are risk-averse and want to pass the buck to him rather than accept responsibility themselves -- dodging accountability and evading its Constitutional duty. Yes -- Love him or hate him -- President Trump is ideally suited to lead America at this pivotal moment precisely due to his ability to go where no other President would, being a warrior for the American people, whom he so obviously loves

By Justin O. Smith

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Edited by John R. Houk

Source links and text embraced by brackets are by the Editor.

© Justin O. Smith