Democrats losing border wall battle to Trump

Democratic leaders are the ones who will lose politically if they continue to stand in the way of better border security, predicts an attorney and resident fellow at an immigration watchdog.

By Chad Groening

The partial government shutdown is entering week four over the weekend, and it’s coming after President Trump sat down again this week with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at the White House.

That shutdown meeting ended quickly when Trump asked Pelosi if she would support funding for a border wall and she said, “No.”

Opinion: Dems losing border wall battle to Trump

“Then this is a waste of my time,” Trump replied, then got up and walked out, The Washington Times reported.

Art Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies says Democrats seem more concerned about pleasing their far-left base than improving security on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the reason is they are eyeing the 2020 elections, he says.

For those Democratic leaders, Arthur adds, there is also the issue of newly elected, far-left Democrats who were elected due to the vocal opposition to Trump, and their vows to oppose him at every turn and push to impeach him.

Democrats and their supporters are also mocking Trump for suggesting his plans for a wall have evolved into a compromise for steel fencing, possibly hoping that Trump supporters will grow angry that a promised “big, beautiful” concrete wall — which he said would be paid for by Mexico — is growing doubtful.

OneNewsNow reminded readers in a Jan. 7 story that prominent Democrats once voted for a 2006 bill that authorized miles of new fencing on the border but now, according to Pelosi, a border wall is “immoral” and an “immorality between countries.”

The same story, quoting The Daily Caller, said Border Patrol officials are showing Trump prototypes of various border structures, such as the steel-slatted fencing, and Trump has been listening.

“As the president appears more reasonable, and talks more about compromise on this,” says Arthur, “the intransigence of the Democrats, I think, is going to be a political liability for them particularly as more Americans are affected by the shutdown.”

After examining the current shutdown negotiations under way, CIS advised in a tweet that Trump would get $5.7 billion he is asking for but the deal would not include mandatory E-Verify, nor reform the asylum process nor end sanctuaries, and it includes amnesty for DACA immigrants and temporary protect status (TPS) immigrants, too.

Yet Democrats are refusing to compromise.

The longer the Democrats dig in their heels, says Athur, the more they’re going to increase the enthusiasm of those who support the president’s position.

“So this really is kind of a no-lose situation for the president and the Republican Party,” he insists. “But it does have some pretty big political stakes for the Democrats. That’s why you see them take such a hard line on this.”