[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Peace] thank Rep Vela for opposing the abominable border wall

[Karen Aram]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Debra Schrishuhn via Peace <peace at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace at lists.chambana.net>>
Subject: [Peace] thank Rep Vela for opposing the abominable border wall
Date: March 28, 2018 at 03:48:43 PDT
To: peace <peace at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace at lists.chambana.net>>
Reply-To: Debra Schrishuhn <deb.pdamerica at gmail.com<mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com>>

Please call Rep Filemon Vela (D, TX-34) (202) 225-9901 and thank him
for opposing the Trumpian border wall and helping to spare the Santa
Ana National Wildlife Preserve. This wall bridges numerous
issues:immigration, increasing militarism, spreading racism, and
environmental destruction. After successfully lobbying for protection
of Santa Ana NWR in the recent budget bill, Rep Vela voted against the
final bill because it provided funding for the wall elsewhere and
offered no protections for DREAMers.

Vela: Top Democrats’ Support for Trump’s Border Wall an Abomination

It is becoming abundantly clear that Republican Leadership does not
have—nor has ever had—any intention of allowing DREAMers a pathway to
citizenship. Despite the fact that 196 Members of Congress, some of
whom include Republicans, have signed a procedural petition to bring
the DREAM Act to the House floor for a simple up or down vote, Speaker
Ryan refuses to allow the House to vote on the DREAM Act. A simple
vote is our only request.

Without having taken a single step toward resolving the status of
DREAMers, it is difficult to believe any Democrat would be willing to
give President Trump a nickel to fund his “big beautiful wall.”
Surprisingly, three of my colleagues in Congress chose to reward
Trump’s intransigence and inaction—with respect to DREAMers—with
support for the President’s proposed border wall. The border wall is a
physical representation of the cultural and racial insults President
Trump has spewed since his campaign announcement. A physical wall is
also a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer dollars, endangers wildlife,
stomps on property rights of private landowners, and isolates our
partner, Mexico.

Last week, Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin publicized an effort to
provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers in exchange for a down
payment of $1.6 billion for Trump’s border wall. The wall Mr. Durbin
proposed would be constructed in South Texas—and most
disturbingly—through the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. On
Friday, in a desperate move to avoid a government shutdown, Senate
Minority Leader Charles Schumer visited the White House and “put the
wall on the table in exchange for strong DACA protections…it was a
generous offer.” And in a fit of emotion just hours after the midnight
shutdown, Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) told reporters, “I’ll take
a bucket, take bricks, and start building it [the wall] myself.”

I am confounded by the negotiating tactics of my fellow Democrats.
Beyond the stupidity of offering unmatched concessions and negotiating
against themselves, my colleagues have begun to refer to the border
wall in the same way Trump’s base speak about DREAMers and
undocumented people. Their apparent acceptance of the border wall and
disregard of the impact on border communities demonstrates a
fundamental lack of thought, logic, and empathy.

Mr. Trump’s border wall is not a cost-effective method of addressing
the real issues agents face on the U.S.-Mexico border. Just two weeks
ago the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, Mr.
Anthony Reardon, testified that the greatest obstacle to our nation’s
border security is the Department of Homeland Security’s inability to
fill the thousands of border agent and officer vacancies, which were
authorized by Congress. In addition to the vacancies, Mr. Reardon
mentioned the shortage of canines used to detect threats to national
security. Reports of an internal White House budget guidance document
for Fiscal Year 2019 reveal that the White House Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) asked Department of Homeland Security officials to
reduce or delay funding requests for technology and equipment meant to
secure the border, including canine units and Coastal Interceptor
boats used to apprehend drug smugglers. OMB’s request reveals that
President Trump’s campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall
is a lie. Rather than using taxpayer dollars on proven tools or in
providing salary incentives to maintain the workforce that facilitates
legitimate trade and travel, Mr. Trump is attempting to cut agents’
resources in order to pay for his wall. Government officers, canine
units, and technology—not a border fence—are key to intercepting the
flow of contraband into our country.

Despite the impression given by supporters of a border wall, there is
another massive obstacle to the barrier’s construction beyond the
billions of dollars that the wall would cost to construct. Sixty-six
percent of the land along our southern border is privately owned. A
wall would greatly impose on the property rights of these American
citizens. Those who have been able to remain living south of the wall
will be stuck in limbo between the Rio Grande River and the border
wall. Wall construction would require the federal government to claim
eminent domain and seize the property of other private landowners.
Families along the border would be uprooted from their homes, forcing
them into long, arduous legal battles to defend their land.

I am committed to protect DREAMers, but we can do that without
sacrificing border communities and safety to satisfy an irrational
demand for the construction of a border wall. I am disappointed that
some members of my own party think so little of border residents that
they have now offered up a physical border wall—helping President
Trump fulfill one of his most repugnant campaign promises, without
securing a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.

Thanks,
Deb
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