The federal government is shut down, at least partially. The reason, we are told, is President Trump's demand for a "wall." That isn't really the President's demand, and that really isn't why we are at such an impasse.
Despite the constant drumbeat of reports to the contrary, there is no worker shortage in the United States. If there were, our crops would go unpicked, our lawns unmown, and our computer games uncoded. Maybe there's something else behind these claims.
The House of Representatives passed a spending bill Thursday evening that included $5.7 billion for the building of a barrier on the U.S. border. The Senate must pass the House bill by midnight Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown.
On Tuesday, the White House sent a signal that President Trump was no longer asking Congress to appropriate $5 billion for border wall spending. Instead, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House would cobble together other sources of funding to supplement the $1.6 billion already agreed to by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
In an op-ed in The Washington Times, NumbersUSA Deputy Director Chris Chmielenski explains how Congressional staffers of four Republican Members Congress are planning to double the number of H-2B workers, and how that would hurt the job prospects of American workers.
The Washington Times reported on new findings by the Center for Immigration Studies that 63% of households headed by non-citizens access at least one welfare program, compared to 35% of households headed by U.S. citizens.
Congressional Republicans have reportedly cut a deal to permanently double the number H-2B guest worker visas given out each year. These visas are used by employers to bring in foreign workers to take jobs in landscaping, food service, meat processing, hospitality services, janitorial and housekeeping work, and other lower-skilled, non-agricultural occupations.
President Trump last week reiterated his call for more foreign workers to fill jobs apparently Americans won't do. This was lost in the blow-up between the President and CNN correspondent Jim Acosta. However, it isn't the first time the President has said this, and it isn't true.
Following news stories that President Trump may send a small contingent of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, the media is now reporting that the President is also considering executive actions to prevent individuals traveling in the “migrant caravan” from Central America from entering the United States.
Christopher Browning, a professor of German history, published a long essay in The New York Review of Books. The topic wasn't a book review but a vituperative attack on President Trump, including a denunciation of those, Trump supporters or not, who seek to restrict immigration. It is shockingly shoddy work by someone of Browning's stature, and any effect it may have will only serve to inflame political passions.