Just as he has done with practically everything else since Donald Trump was inaugurated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is making his decisions based on politics rather than what’s good for the United States. In recent weeks he has insisted he will not budge, he will not allow more than $1.3 for border protection with none of it for a barrier along the southern border. He told the press the money was, “for border security, NOT a concrete wall or increases in detention beds or [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents.” He added that his party” would not agree to more border security funding.”

It’s strange that Schumer objects to the wall, because in 2006– before he was the Senate majority leader before Donald Trump was president, Chuck Schumer voted in favor of the Secure Fence Act

Eighty senators in total voted for the secure fence act, twenty-six out of the forty-four Democrats voted in favor of the bill (one, Ted Kennedy did not vote). Twelve years later some of those Democratic Senators are still serving in the upper body, and one Democratic Party member of the house who voted in favor of the secure fence act is now in the Senate. They include;

  • Sherrod Brown (OH)
  • Thomas Carper (DE)
  • Diane Feinstein (CA)
  • Bill Nelson (FL)
  • Chuck Schumer (NY)
  • Debbie Stabenow (MI)
  • Ron Wyden (OR)

Florida’s Nelson was defeated in his reelection bid so he will be replaced by Tim Scott in January. Sen.Sherrod Brown voted in favor of the Secure Fence act as a member of the house.

Other notable Democrats who supported the bill in the Senate were Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton,  and Senator Barack Obama.

Granted the structure of the proposed fence was different than the wall offered now.

The primary goal of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was the same as the wall today. It was to help secure America’s borders to decrease illegal entry, drug trafficking, and security threats by building 700 miles (1,100 km) of physical barriers along the Mexico-United States border. Later in the text of the bill, it specifies what was supposed to be built:  a double-layered fence with barbed wire on top and room for a security vehicle to patrol between the layers. Not bad right?

Only about 36.3 miles of the fence was built, and most of that was constructed during the administration of Bush #43. President Obama’s first DHS secretary Janet Napolitano “used her discretion.” and downgraded what was outlined in the bill.

According to the DHS along with the 36.3 miles of double-fencing they’ve built 300 miles of Vehicle Fence and 353 miles of primary Pedestrian Fence, along the Southwest border.

Vehicle Fence

As described in the customs and Border Patrol website, the vehicle fence includes, ‘post on rail’ steel set in concrete; steel picket-style fence set in concrete; vehicle bollards similar to those found around federal buildings; ‘Normandy; vehicle fence consisting of steel beams; and concrete jersey walls with steel mesh. They seem capable of blocking cars, but any able-bodied human child can walk through them.

 

The 18-foot tall pedestrian fence needs merely a ladder to scale.

The 18-foot tall pedestrian fence needs merely a ladder to scale.

Barack Obama and Janet Napolitano ignored what Congress intended. Those vehicle barriers won’t stop a small child or even a bald, overweight blogger. Which is also why the House didn’t take up the Gang of Eight bill. The belief was that If Obama didn’t build the fence per the Secure Fence Act,   GOP congressmen did trust that he would follow any border security legislation.

The Trump Administration wants to upgrade from a double fence to a 30-foot-tall wall. All he needs is funding. The border patrol has endorsed the president’s plan to build a wall where possible and other barriers where necessary. But Chuck Schumer does not want to all president trump to have a political victory even if he once supported the concept.

Here’s the bottom line.  Back in 2006, the people of the U.S. were promised a two-layered high-tech Mexican border fence, Thanks to the Barack Obama administration 95% of the barrier wasn’t built.

But Chuck Schumer says the wall is unnecessary and a waste of money because it won’t work. That is a bogus claim especially if you look at Israel. The wall/fence system built along the eastern side of Judea and Samaria has almost eliminated the suicide bombings coming from the “West Bank.”

There’s also a wall along the Israel/Egypt border. That barrier’s purpose was similar to the wall President Trump wants to build along America’s southern border. Israel’s southern border was erected to prevent illegal immigrants from Africa, crossing over the formerly open border into Israel.

Yehuda Ben Meir, head of the National Security and Public Opinion Project at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, told the Jerusalem Post,  “It was constructed in cooperation with Cairo and includes some military crossing points so that the Israeli and Egyptian armies can collaborate when needed.”

The Jerusalem Post also detailed the effectiveness of the southern barrier system:

“Today, there are approximately 40,000 African migrants and asylum seekers in Israel, according to the Interior Ministry. About 70 percent are Eritrean and 20% are Sudanese and almost all of them arrived between 2006 and 2012. In 2010, the height of the wave, about 1,500 illegally crossed from Sinai into Israel each month.

After breaking ground in 2010, Israel completed the 242-km. (150-mile) fence in December 2013 at a cost of around $450 million. Whereas about 9,500 Africans crossed into Israel illegally in the first six months of 2012, less than three dozen did so in the first six months of 2013, at which time the major components of the barrier had been completed.

Illegal immigration through Sinai dropped to 11 cases in 2016 and 0 in 2017.

Israel is Also Building A Wall System Along Its Northern Border With Lebanon

So any claim that a border barrier will not work belies the truth. U.S.border agents agree.  In a survey conducted by the National Border Patrol Council, the agents’ union, they overwhelmingly supported adding a “wall system” in strategic locations, embracing President Trump’s argument that it will boost their ability to nab or deter would-be illegal immigrants.

When one combines the fact that border barriers work in Israel, with the fact the U.S. border patrol believes in its efficacy, and that Chuck Schumer supported the secure fence act when George W. Bush was president, it suggests that Schumer’s rationale for preventing the wall system is more about partisan politics and not giving Pres Trump a victory than disputing the competence of a barrier

One of the reasons Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 is that the American people want a wall. It’s time to end the obstructing, and Chuck Schumer has to stop acting like a partisan hack and support a southern barrier, something he supported before Trump was elected.