Trump To Slash Border Security & Disaster Funding To Pay For Deportations
The Donald Trump administration is planning to fund its inhumane crackdown on undocumented immigrants in America by slashing security budgets that protect citizens every day, according to a POLITICO analysis of White House documents.
The Transportation Security Administration, which secures air and train travel and the Coast Guard, which monitors the nearly 100,000 miles of American coast, will be subject to serious budget cuts. So will the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds to natural disasters and saves lives when Nature strikes.
That money will instead be spent on sending illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin.
This is a perverted set of priorities that will almost certainly make Americans less safe. President Trump probably feels he can justify cutting security funding in exchange for deportation because he peddles the lie that undocumented immigrants pose a unique threat to American safety.
As part of his “Make America Safe Again” scheme, Trump signed two executive orders on January 25 that mark the start of a harsh immigration enforcement policy – a policy that will do little to make U.S. citizens safer.
The executive order on Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements includes this unsubstantiated: “Aliens who illegally enter the United States without inspection or admission present a significant threat to national security and public safety.”
Similarly, the executive order on Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States alleges, “Many aliens who illegally enter the United States and those who overstay or otherwise violate the terms of their visas present a significant threat to national security and public safety.”
In fact, undocumented immigrants have been proven time and again to be less likely to be involved in crime than native-born Americans. It is one thing to promote public safety by aggressively deporting immigrants who commit violent crimes, but the Trump Administration is now indiscriminately targeting all undocumented immigrants.
The funds stripped from the Coast Guard, the TSA, and FEMA will be diverted to the Department of Homeland Security where they will be squandered on unnecessary deportations and a border wall between America and Mexico.
Retired Admiral James Loy, who has served in the Coast Guard, the TSA, and the Department of Homeland Security, is uniquely knowledgeable about the security implications of Trump’s ill-considered policy. He gave this scathing statement about the Trump Administration:
“[The proposed budget] is ignorant of what constitutes national security. They simply don’t understand the equation.”
The Coast Guard is already under immense strain. It not only intercepts would-be illegal immigrants trying to enter America by sea (something which Trump ought to appreciate), it is charged with intercepting drug shipments from dangerous drug cartels. The Coast Guard also defends American ports from terrorist threats.
As Trump frets about building the Great Wall of America on the southern border, he is cutting funds that are used to protect Americans from the very real threats of violent organized crime and terrorism.
Retired Coast Guard Commander Stephen Flynn explains, “As you harden the land border you open up the maritime border. It makes no sense.”
It is just further proof that Trump’s obsession with “national security” is nothing but a hood for his white supremacist agenda. It is completely illogical to build an enormously expensive border wall while making it easier to enter by air or by sea. That disjointed approach is just more proof that what is really behind Trump’s plans is an effort to get non-white Americans out of the country.
