9:58 a.m.
Sunday, December 30, 2018 10:00 am
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Wannabe Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says the wall is immoral.
I say the death of an immigrant who came here legally and worked his butt off to become a small town California police officer only to be shot and killed on Christmas Day by an illegal immigrant who was deported more than once is immoral.
Newman Police Cpl. Ronil Singh, a husband and father of a months-old child, was gunned down by an illegal immigrant during a Christmas Day traffic stop for a suspected DWI.
Ms. Pelosi also says the wall is expensive.
I say sending $10 million to spur development in Central America and Mexico is fool's money. Much of it will find its way into corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. I'm sure the Clinton Foundation is licking its chops, happy to help with the disbursal of funds through optimum channels.
That $10 million would be better spent on a wall. At least we'd have something to show for it.
As you may recall from an earlier column, we called U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan on Dec. 21. We wanted to ask them what they thought about the "brawl over the wall" between Schumer and Pelosi on one side and the president on the other.
But after emailing and calling the press staff of both senators, surprise surprise, no one returned our call. In fact we've gotten the runaround from both offices for 10 days now.
We wanted to ask them why they think we don't need a wall despite the humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Tijuana, Mexico, where thousands of migrants are trying to sneak or barrel their way into the United States, often with no regard for the safety of themselves or their young children.
We asked the senators' press staffs to at least send us a statement about why border security could be best served by not having a wall. They didn't do that either, but their former comments leave me confused.
It should be noted that on Sen. Shaheen's website, she sounds like she might be in favor of a wall. I mean she says this: "We must ensure law enforcement has adequate resources to keep us safe, and we must strengthen the infrastructure and technology necessary to combat transnational crime and prosecute national security threats."
I would define a wall as infrastructure, but I guarantee you will not hear the senator calling for a wall.
And Sen. Hassan, after taking a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in May, spoke of the need for strengthening border infrastructure, too. Knowing full well of the tragic toll heroin and fentanyl supplied by Mexican drug cartels have taken on the Granite State, she told New Hampshire reporters, "Over the course of the trip, I witnessed firsthand the challenges our law enforcement officials at the U.S.-Mexico border face every day as they work to detect, intercept, and halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs across the border. It's clear that we need more border patrol personnel, improved technology, and better infrastructure such as roads, fencing, and upgraded facilities."
But I haven't heard Ms. Hassan rail against her Democratic colleagues who are obstructing the construction of a wall which she, herself, has said is necessary to staunch the flow of fentanyl coming to our state, fentanyl that has killed an ever-growing number of Granite Staters.
Now with all due respect to our two senators, we know it's been a holiday week, but a lot of federal workers are working without pay during the government shutdown. So why can't our senators work? I mean at least they're being paid.
But they won't take a call and they won't make a statement. And they won't be on a Sunday talk show. No sir! They'll lay low like their leadership has told them to. Too bad. I'd love to hear them parse their above statements to show they're not bucking Democratic leadership.
If you want to give them a call, here's their numbers. Sen. Shaheen's Washington office is (202) 224-2841. Sen. Hassan's is (202) 224-3324.
If they say anything substantive beyond the "party" rhetoric, please let me know.