Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) once again demonstrated just how disconnected some Democrats and open border advocates are from the humanitarian and national security crisis playing out at the border, calling the border wall a “vanity project” during a live interview.
Of course, the assertion that the border wall is nothing more than a tchotchke for President Trump flies in the face of reality, and testimony from border key Border Patrol experts, who have been eager to offer their views on the matter. Mark Morgan, who served as Border Patrol chief for the last six months of the Obama administration, recently came forward and voiced his strong support for the president’s attempts to secure funding for the border wall through a government shutdown. “I’m begging the president to stay the course,” he said. In addition, Art del Cueto, vice president of the 20,000 member National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), recently noted that despite the ongoing government shutdown, “we fully support the president and all his efforts to secure our nation’s borders.”
What seems to be getting short shrift in the conversation about the need to secure the borders is the rising humanitarian toll it’s taking on the illegal migrants themselves. Despite the fact that two young immigrant children recently died shortly after being apprehended coming into the U.S. illegally, the humanitarian crisis playing out continues to be ignored.
Consider these facts:
- 60,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended in 2018 alone.
- 31 percent of women, and 17 percent of men report being sexually assaulted on the journey north.
- 70 percent of migrants report being victims of abuse, largely at the hands of smugglers.
Building the wall and erecting other deterrent structures along the border will be a huge disincentive to many who are thinking about making the dangerous trip north.