Because of the government shutdown, TSA employees are having their paychecks delayed.
What do we use to funnel airport users through TSA checkpoints? Walls.
What is an airport in 2019? An airport is a walled city with a palace guard having two specific duties: Admit only those authorized to enter & insure that those entering bring nothing inappropriate with them. TSA is the palace guard. (Note that armed local police back up TSA roaming the airport with drug sniffing dogs.) Any difference in role between the employees of TSA and those protecting our borders is intellectually indistinguishable.
We design airports in a manner to ensure that TSA agents can protect anyone using airports. We should be designing our border security to ensure that our citizens are protected. The tools are the same: walls, people, technology.
Not a single American was harmed since 9/11 as we enhanced security at our airports. Not a single American will be harmed if we enhance security on the southern border. How can this be an issue worthy of closing portions of the government and withholding payroll checks?
President Trump and literally millions of voters believe that a wall will help stem illegal immigration. Speaker Pelosi cannot honestly argue that a wall will increase illegal immigration or that $2.5 billion for the wall is less than the cost of the shutdown each week. Therefore, she, not the President, is using the shutdown for political reasons.
If Ms. Pelosi believes in open borders, then she should believe the shutdown is appropriate and should state specifically that she believes that she believes our borders should be open to one and all 24/7. It is an easy question for a reporter to ask.
Walls are what archeologists generally first discover when doing their field work. Walls are the first marker of civilization; the ability to protect the populous. We can study castles in Europe, the Great Wall of China, early civilization in the Middle East, or the Incas in Peru. All civilizations have used walls to protect their borders.
We use walls to protect virtually everything we choose to protect. In the last few years, we have learned to protect our schools by fencing and requiring individuals to enter school property through managed entrances. We protect our Courts through funneled entrances and security nearly identical to our airports. Apartment buildings use doormen, some residential areas use guard gates, and virtually every entity has some form of security.
Fighting through architectural differences, are not our homes walls with doors? Isn’t everyone advised to lock their doors at night?
Politicians who endorsed walls a few years ago are now calling walls immoral and a poor methodology for reducing illegal immigration. Not a one has explained the underlying intellectual reasons for their change of mind. Not a one has explained any other specific thoughts about how or why technology will reduce illegal immigration or illegal drug running over the border. Not a one has admitted that with greater wall protection, other assets could be deployed more effectively. And no one has called to remove existing walls or for that matter, eliminate TSA that protects those who can afford to fly.
So, we have a political tragedy. The Democrats hate the president, most of the media hate the president and hence working federal employees are not getting paychecks. The issue is and was never about the wall; it is about the voters’ decision in 2016.
History has shown walls work. It is not conjecture, it is fact.