The last government shutdown ended because Democrats stood firm against President Trump’s border wall. But funding will soon run out again, talks between Democrats and Republicans are in crisis, and Mr. Trump remains committed: “The Wall will get built one way or the other!” he tweeted on Saturday. The Senate’s minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has made it clear that Mr. Trump won’t get his way: “Democrats are against the wall.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has admirably enforced party discipline, has called the wall “immoral.” Yet at the same time, Ms. Pelosi has emphasized that “Democrats are committed to border security.” She has critiqued the wall on the narrow grounds that government should instead employ “evidence-based knowledge about how we best secure our border.” James Clyburn, the majority whip, fleshed out what that might look like: a “smart wall,” including more Border Patrol agents. This, too, is immoral. It’s also bad politics. Democrats should follow their voters, who increasingly want more open borders, and reframe the immigration debate by rejecting the very notion that the border needs more “security” and making it clear that the real problem is the denial of migrants’ rights. The time has come for the Democratic Party to push for concrete policies to make the border more open. There is plainly no need for more security on the border. Illegal entries to the United States (as measured by Border Patrol apprehensions, which the government has long used as a proxy) began to fall at the turn… [Read full story]
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