Thread: TSA Agents could be "Yellow Vest USA" and cut immigration

If all or most TSA Agents stop going to work all airports in the U.S. would close.

If the passengers aren't inspected they can't get on the planes.

If the planes can't make money hauling passengers out of the U.S. to other countries the planes won't be in the other countries to bring foreigners into the U.S. on Tourist Visa, Student Visas, Work Visa, Immigrant Visas, etc. so they won't be here to overstay those visas when they expire, cutting illegal immigration and legal immigration too. Some could still enter from Canada and Mexico by land crossings or by ships in ports but it would be slow and costly for them.

I think making people work and not paying them is called slavery.

Airport terminals closed because of shutdown

I think paying people like Pelosi, Schumer, DemonRats and Rino's who do NOT work for the American people is called idiotic.

Open government...stop all pay to the House, Senate and Congress for not doing their jobs and no back pay.

Our National Security is not a bargaining chip and we want NO deal for DACA or illegal aliens.

GIVE US 25 BILLION OF OUR MONEY AND BUILD THE BARRIERS

NO PAPERS, NO ENTRY, NO RIGHTS.

PROCESS AND DEPORT WITHIN 48 HOURS.

Originally Posted by Beezer

. . . stop all pay to the House, Senate and Congress for not doing their jobs and no back pay. . .

And the president, vice president, cabinet members and all of their staff too.

Government shutdowns are wrong, they're always wrong, they will always be wrong. This shutdown is the first thing this dear President has done that I consider a mistake. This shutdown is not a fight, it's a suicide mission going nowhere for nothing. Americans would have been much better off to have been informed about all the new fence/wall/barrier work already completed or in progress, about 100 miles worth in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and the letting the end of December of yet another contract to build another 115 miles of fence/wall/barrier in Texas, all in high priority, high traffic areas where they are most needed.

Originally Posted by Judy

Government shutdowns are wrong, they're always wrong, they will always be wrong. This shutdown is the first thing this dear President has done that I consider a mistake. This shutdown is not a fight, it's a suicide mission going nowhere for nothing. Americans would have been much better off to have been informed about all the new fence/wall/barrier work already completed or in progress, about 100 miles worth in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and the letting the end of December of yet another contract to build another 115 miles of fence/wall/barrier in Texas, all in high priority, high traffic areas where they are most needed.

Please. The American people have quickly caught on to Trumps obfuscations, lies and half-truths where border fencing is concerned. The real truth is out there for anyone that would bother to research it. Don't let Trump's tweets be your only source of information. If you do that, you'll end up very disappointed.

Is Trump's border wall being built? Here are the facts

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tours border in Arizona
Arizona RepublicPublished 9:18 p.m. MT Nov. 5, 2018 | Updated 9:23 a.m. MT Dec. 12, 2018
(Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

As President Donald Trump presses to get $5 billion for border-wall construction — with the threat of a government shutdown as leverage — he's issued a flurry of tweets.

In one Twitter burst, Trump said his administration has "already built large new sections" of the "great wall" that he spoke of while campaigning for president.

To date, however, the Trump administration has not constructed one foot of border wall that fits any description he gave during his presidential campaign.

During the campaign, Trump insisted that existing fences were not adequate, and he would build something different — an impenetrable wall at least 20 or 30 feet tall. After Trump took office, federal officials had construction companies bid on and build prototypes meeting those standards.

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump


.....Ice, Border Patrol and our Military have done a FANTASTIC job of securing our Southern Border. A Great Wall would be, however, a far easier & less expensive solution. We have already built large new sections & fully renovated others, making them like new. The Democrats,.....

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7:04 AM - Dec 11, 2018
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Instead of building new walls, the Department of Homeland Security has replaced old barriers in some border areas and erected new fences in a few locations.

Those metal barriers mostly are 12 to 18 feet high. They are the same design fences built under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Indeed, Congress funded the projects with a stipulation that the new border structures built under Trump must use existing fence designs — meaning the new prototype wall designs couldn't be used.

But in practice, the distinction between "wall" and "fence" has begun to blur.

More than a year ago, Trump and the Department of Homeland security began labeling all border barriers as "walls," even though they are the same fences he belittled during his campaign.

Today, as the president pushes Congress to finance funding for his most symbolic and concrete campaign vision, it is undecided whether a border wall already is under construction, whether the "big, beautiful wall" will ever get built — or whether, under the new definition, it already has been.

The answer, arguably, has become a matter of interpretation, as well as congressional approval.

What's Trump's border wall progress?

New border barriers built under the Trump administration amount to a few miles of fencing.

A USA TODAY NETWORK project in 2017 examined the entire 2,000-mile border and showed most of it has no fence and no wall.

That doesn't mean border crossers are flowing freely across the border, though.

As President Barack Obama left office, apprehensions of illegal crossers by the Border Patrol was at a historic low. At first under Trump, they plummeted further. Arrests rose in the last year, but the numbers remain near the lowest levels in decades.

Helicopter footage documents just 354 miles of fences designed to stop people on foot. Almost all are near cities and towns. The un-fenced border is mostly remote, wild and distant from roads or construction supplies.

Is Trump's border wall the same as the border fence?

Supporters of President Trump defend the border wall during a rally as Trump visits the border wall prototypes several miles away in Otay Mesa, California. David Wallace/The Republic

On the campaign trail, supporters regaled Trump with a slogan, "Build the wall!"

Even after taking office, he was clear that the border wall would be new and different from other fences, saying "We’re going to have a wall that works. We’re not going to have a wall like they have now, which is either nonexistent or a joke."

Since then, administration officials seemingly revised that plan. In April, Homeland Security Director Kirstjen Nielsen announced that new barriers would be considered walls, even if those fences are being built to replace existing fences.

Most fencing along the border consists of tall steel posts, known as "bollards." For decades, Border Patrol agents have talked about "bollard fences." Now, their agency calls them "bollard walls."

Under Trump's administration, fewer than 40 miles of new barriers have been erected or are approved, and most of those simply replace old fencing.

In tweets Dec. 11, the president wrote, "People do not yet realize how much of the wall…has already been built."

He said the border "is now secure" and asserted that undocumented immigrants "have not been able to get through our newly built walls."

At the same time, Trump said Democrats in Congress are trying to stop border-security efforts by denying funds for a wall.

"If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall," he added.

Could a wall be built? What would it do? Journalists from the USA TODAY NETWORK flew and drove the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border in search for answers. This is what they found. A USA TODAY NETWORK video production.

THE WALL: Documentaries explore reality of the border.

Where is Trump's border wall being built?

If you consider the barrier projects built recently to be "border walls," here are some of the locations:

• In April, the Border Patrol began construction of a "border wall" near El Paso at Santa Teresa, N.M. During a press conference, Aaron Hull, Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso sector, mostly referred to the project as the wall, sometimes calling it "fence" but quickly correcting himself. Hull said the metal barrier was the same design as others from the 2006 Secure Fence Act. The new barrier replaced existing metal posts which were designed only to block vehicles.
• In September, the Border Patrol announced construction of "a new 4-mile section of bollard wall" in the historic Chihuahuita neighborhood in El Paso. The new bollards replaced existing chain-link fencing.
• In October, border officials marked the completion of 2 miles of barriers near Calexico, Calif. Crews had replaced older metal fencing with new, 30-foot steel bollards, a project identified as a priority and funded under President Barack Obama.
• In November, Customs and Border Protection officials announced a contract for about 6 miles of "wall system" in the Rio Grande Valley. The project is supposed to include a concrete levee wall "to the height of the existing levee" with 18-foot bollards on top. That barrier is not being built yet; it's set to be started in February.

None of those barriers look like the wall prototypes built near San Diego, which Trump visited and praised earlier this year.

Is Mexico going to pay for the border wall?

So far, no.

Congress approved $1.6 billion this year for border security, which Trump has described as a “down payment” on his wall. That's U.S. tax dollars.

Not all of that $1.6 billion goes toward fences or walls.

The $1.6 billion is intended for general border security measures, which includes new technology along the border and repairs to existing barriers. Only $641 million was dedicated to building 33 miles of new barriers.

The bill that allocated that funding also contained a notable caveat: "The amounts ... shall only be available for operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 ...such as currently deployed steel bollard designs, that prioritize agent safety."

In other words: The funding can be used only for previous designs, not any new designs for Trump's border wall idea.

But the new designs might not be usable, anyway.

What's the status of the border wall prototypes?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded eight contracts to six companies to build border-wall prototypes in 2017.


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Border wall prototypes
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Four were made of reinforced concrete, and another four incorporated additional construction materials. Construction began on Sept. 26 on a strip of federally controlled land near San Diego.

Trump later visited the site, and remarked that he preferred a wall design that allowed Border Patrol agents to see through the barrier.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did field tests on the 30-foot-tall structures. In August, the U.S. Government Accountability Office published a report about the results of that testing.

The tests revealed many of the prototypes, as built, failed to meet the same design standards that Customs and Border Protection had set out in its calls for submissions. The evaluations found that all four concrete prototypes had “extensive” construction challenges.

The GAO report did not disclose the cost-effectiveness of the eight prototypes.

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President Donald Trump visits California on March 13, 2018
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Is Trump's border wall being built or not?

Details aside, the administration has been consistent in saying any border-security construction will be considered part of a "wall" or "wall system" under Trump.

"To us, it's all new wall," Nielsen said at a White House briefing in April. "If there was a wall before that needs to be replaced, it's being replaced by a new wall. This is Trump's border wall."

Rafael Carranza@RafaelCarranza

· Oct 26, 2018

Replying to @RafaelCarranza
Catch the livestream of @SecNielsen remaks from the Calexico #border at the @azcentral Facebook page. She talked about the fence, the bombs by mail, the migrant caravan and troops being sent to the border

https://www.facebook.com/azcentral/videos/324025258149242/

Rafael Carranza@RafaelCarranza

ICYM the livestream, after @SecNielsen’s arrival to the 30ft Calexico #border fence, two men welded this to the fence. It reads: “This plaque was installed on October 26, 2018 to commemorate the completion of the first section of President Trump’s border wall” pic.twitter.com/ZnJF6xtpOw


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In October, as Nielsen christened the bollards at Calexico, workers put a literal stamp on the project.

When Nielsen arrived at the site, two men welded an engraved plaque to one of the bollards. It read: “This plaque was installed on October 26, 2018 to commemorate the completion of the first section of President Trump’s border wall.”

With reporting from Dennis Wagner of The Arizona Republic and Alan Gomez of USA TODAY.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ss/1898283002/

I will never be disappointed in President Trump. So what are you trying to say that Trump hasn't gotten funding for the 215 miles of new border fence?! What is wrong with you? Of course he has, he couldn't build concrete wall with the money, but he could build the steel fences Border Patrol wants and prefers with the money. Republicans helped him get that money. Once the DemoQuacks took over the House, that has ended.

I'm thrilled with what he's done with the big steel fences. They're beautiful and will work quite well, according to BP. According to BP, they'll reduce illegal immigration at those locations and areas by 90 to 95%. Why would anyone who wants to stop illegal immigration not be thrilled with that?

You're an odd one, MW. But have your Trump Hate on all you want. I've got my Trump MAGA Hat on, and we're marching forward making progress and fixing our country, while you languish in lies and loss.

If you want the shutdown to end just get most of the TSA Agents to stay home and shutdown every airport in the country.
That would put a lot of pressure on a lot of people.

The bigger concern are the Air Traffic Controllers not the TSA's searching your bags and shoes for shampoo.