Last night, President Donald Trump spoke for approximately nine minutes in the Oval Office under the guise of discussing what he called a “growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.” In his prime-time address, Trump tried to show concern for the American people, attempting to appear sincere in his care for our safety. But is there truly a humanitarian crisis, as Trump says?
As we consider the events that have taken place at our southern border in the past year—from children being separated from their parents at the border; to Customs and Border Patrol agents tear-gassing asylum seekers, including children; to the death of a 7-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody—one might indeed agree that we have a crisis.
However, Trump wasn’t talking about the humanitarian crisis his administration has created through the series of human rights violations outlined above. Instead, Trump spent his speech pitting the American people against immigrants, and inventing a humanitarian crisis caused by people who wish to immigrate to the U.S.
He tried to sell this crisis by first saying that “all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration.” He called it a strain on public resources that drives down jobs and wages, claiming “those hardest hit are African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.” Further, he claimed the reaction to the crisis was also part of the fight against drug overdoses.
“Our southern border is a pipeline of mass quantities of illegal drugs, including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl,” Trump said. “Every week,” he went on, “300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across our southern border.” The president’s answer to this epidemic is misguided at best if he hopes a border wall will somehow limit incoming drugs.
His proposed solution targets only the Mexican border, whereas, according to the New York Times, the majority of fentanyl comes into the U.S. in packages mailed from China. How exactly would the $5.7 billion he’s demanding from Congress for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border stop those? This is an insignificant question for Trump, whose only goal is to scare the American public into supporting his expensive, ineffective wall.
While immigration’s impact on jobs and on drugs coming across the southern border were briefly covered in his address, Trump spent the majority of his time appealing directly to many American people’s deeply held fears. Most of his fearmongering rhetoric came while touting “violent killings” at the hands of immigrants entering the country illegally. Closing his address, Trump shared cherry-picked stories of people who had been killed or assaulted by such immigrants.
As he told these stories, he asked, “How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” He continued with a claim that “thousands more lives will be lost if we don’t act right now.” This is classic fear-stoking imagery.
He didn’t stop there, though. Trump went on to ask viewers to imagine if it was their child, husband, or wife being killed. But the facts are not on Trump’s side. Studies have found that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally commit less crime than both “legal” immigrants and native-born citizens. By overexaggerating crimes committed by these immigrants, Trump continues to prove that he will stop at nothing to get his border wall.
The truth of the matter is this: Donald Trump built his campaign on the promise of building a wall along the southern border. He was adamant about the fact that Mexico would pay for this wall. Yet, two years into his presidency, he has failed. Even with Republican control of the House and the Senate, he failed. Now he’s grasping at straws to follow through on his biggest campaign promise.
In his address, Trump tried to tie his need for a border wall to his deep concern over the safety of the American people. However, we’re on the cusp of the current government shutdown becoming the longest in U.S. history, and Trump has shown little concern over the harm he’s causing the 800,000 impacted workers or the national security concerns arising as some federal employees, like TSA workers, continue to have to work without pay. We can’t let Trump be our moral compass, claiming alarm over a “humanitarian crisis” while carrying out human rights abuses of his own before our very eyes.
We cannot let Trump scare the American people into an expensive border wall, one that a December Quinnipiac University poll found that the vast majority of Americans oppose. We can’t let him trick his way into getting what he wants, either. To close out his major demands, Trump said he’s asking for $5.7 billion not for a wall, but rather for a “physical barrier.” It’s a meager attempt at rebranding yet another failed promise.
Jose Alonso Muñoz is a writer and communications professional based in Washington, D.C., originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He writes about queer issues, immigration, TV, and pop culture. His work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Into, and Them. Follow him on Twitter.
This post was written through our Daily Kos freelance program.