A top White House adviser said over the weekend that President Donald Trump’s administration will do whatever is necessary to build the wall along the southern border of the United States.
“We’re going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration,” Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser, said during an appearance on CBS.
“This is a very fundamental issue. At stake is the question of whether or not the United States remains a sovereign country. Whether or not we can establish and enforce rules for entrance into our country. The Democrat Party has a simple choice, they can either choose to fight for America’s working class or to promote illegal immigration. You can’t do both.”
The White House has been negotiating with Democrats to fund the border wall. Despite majorities in both the House and the Senate until the end of the year, some Democrats would have to agree to fund the wall because legislation needs 60 votes in the Senate, and there are currently only 51 Republicans in the lame duck session.
“This is what the American people want,” Miller added. “And this president has taken historic action to stem the tide of illegal immigration and to fight for working people in this country.”
The border wall is one of the promises that propelled Trump to the presidency and the existing wall, though aging, helped Border Patrol agents stave off a mob of migrants who rushed the border in Tijuana on Nov. 25.
7-Year-Old Migrant
Miller was asked about the death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan migrant, who entered illegally with her father through the New Mexico desert as part of a larger group.
“A coyote dropped off 163 migrants in an extremely remote section of New Mexico. Those individuals were found by border patrol who, many cases act as first responders. In fact, Border Patrol saves about 4,000 lives every single year,” Miller said.
“Unfortunately, hundreds die on the dangerous trek up. Smuggling organizations profit off death and misery. They are vicious, vile organizations.”
He then noted that such entries were targeted by President Trump in an executive order that made those who enter through the desert and other areas outside ports of entry ineligible for asylum.
Despite the girl’s family admitting in interviews with multiple organizations that the pair left Guatemala due to poverty, which is not an acceptable condition for asylum, her father’s lawyers claimed the two were going to apply for asylum.
Injunction
“President Trump took dramatic action, issued an executive order directing illegal traffic to the ports of entry, but a left-wing, activist judge issued a reckless nationwide injunction on the president’s order putting thousands of lives at risk and further enriching these grotesque, heinous, smuggle organizations,” Miller said.
He said that the fight over funding for the wall could lead to a partial government shutdown, as the president himself has said recently. The shut down would affect about 25 percent of the government; the rest is already funded through an appropriations bill.
The president said during a meeting with top Democrats that he’d take responsibility if the government shut down.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country,” Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) toward the end of the public portion of the heated meeting.
“I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it. The last time you shut it down, it didn’t work.”