Who Is It For?
In an article attempting to provide background to its readers, the BBC posted: Trump wall – all you need to know about US border in seven charts. In the article which presents the facts on the US southern border they included:
“I think building a concrete structure sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security,” said Republican Will Hurd, who represents more of the southern border than any other member of Congress.
Congresscritter Hurd represents the 23rd district of Texas that runs from El Paso East to San Antonio which is a distance of about 550 miles on I-10. CBS has an extensive Q&A with Mr. Hurd. [Also on CBS is a Stephen Colbert coffee mug with all profits going to charities helping the unpaid Federal workforce.]
The people in Texas 23 don’t want “wall”. None of the Congresscritters for any of the districts along the sounthern border want “wall”. The people who own the land along the border don’t want their land taken for “wall”. Who wants “wall” so bad that the government should be shutdown for more than a month?
Personally I believe that “wall” is just a code for racism, the same way “adoption” represents Russian sanctions. One of the tells is the fact that overstaying visas is a bigger problem that crossing on the southern border, but Canadians are largest group of visa violators.
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I know a couple of Canadians who come to the US to get away from the cold winters in Canada. The only reason they don’t overstay their visa is to maintain their Medicare eligibility in Canada, which requires them to reside in their home province for 6 months of the year.
Before 9/11 the Snowbirds could get 6 month visas, but the Shrubbery reduced those to 3 months. That really hurt our local economy during the winter. Snowbirds were the customers for restaurants and other tourist operations. Many owned condos, and sold them after the changes. I don’t doubt that they are the primary source of Canadian visa overstays.