The crisis at the southern border continues, but not the one Donald Trump says is happening. The crisis is more around the chaos created by Trump’s shutdown and his mischaracterization of life at the border than it is undocumented immigrants.
Trump did absolutely say that Mexico would pay for the wall during his 2016 presidential campaign rallies. He never said that Mexico would pay for them through a trade deal, especially not a trade deal that has not yet been ratified by Congress and may never happen, and one that hasn’t been implemented and proven to have any positive economic benefits. Trade deals make money for companies but do not replace taxpayer funds in the U.S. Treasury, meaning that the country of Mexico would be paying nothing and American taxpayers would not be reimbursed should the U.S. government fund the border wall.
Trump said, specifically, during his campaigns that Mexico would write a check for the wall.
Donald Trump saying he “will” get a check from Mexico…
All he does is Lie!pic.twitter.com/2nli3pxSr9#FridayFeeling
— Ryan Hill (@RyanHillMI) January 11, 2019
His new proclamation about H1-B visas are meant to temper the racism inherent in his latest border wall fear-mongering, but there is a specific tell in this one. H1-B visas are meant to go to educated immigrants looking to bring their skills here to the United States so that companies can hire them. They are granted most often to immigrants of Asian and European descent.
DACA recipients, meanwhile, are also educated, law-abiding, educated, and highly skilled. Trump was handed an approved budget that included funding for his border wall in exchange for a path to citizenship for Dreamers. He refused that. The only possible reason for that is that DACA recipients are Central and South American while H1-B visa applicants are not associated with that region.
Twitter shut down Trump’s Friday morning Twitter rant quickly. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Matt Johnson under a Creative Commons license
