Freshman Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) appeared on "America News Headquarters" on Sunday to discuss the government shutdown and the negotiation talks over President Donald Trump's proposed border wall. During the discussion, Hill admitted that Democrats have immigration-related issues they want fixed, like DACA, but before any negotiations can be done the government must reopen so federal employees, primarily members of the law enforcement community, can be paid.
The most interesting admission to come from Hill, who was considered a progressive favorite when she ran against incumbent Rep. Steve King (R), was that she, along with other Democrats, want some sort of "border barrier." Although she didn't say specifically how much money she would be willing to throw behind a "border barrier," she did say she wanted to hear from experts.
"We have to air this out in an open process. We need to hear from the experts on both sides. We need to hear from the sheriffs, for example, who work at the border. We have to hear from the border patrol," she explained. "We have to hear from, you know, people, mayors from the towns that are actually right there on the border as to what they feel is needed."
Hill also acknowledged that there is fencing along miles of the border but there are gaps that need to be filled and areas of fencing that needs to be repaired. But the issue, according to the Congresswoman, is all a matter of semantics.
"I think the challenge is that we’ve gotten hung up on these semantics, really on both sides and gosh, I can’t tell you how much I’ve come to hate the word ‘wall.’ And I think many of us have because it’s unnecessary," Hill explained. "In the campaign President Trump was fixated on this wall and I think we on the Democratic side of the aisle, have such a gut reaction to it because it’s associated with hateful rhetoric, but in reality we need to step back, all of us, step back and say okay, concrete wall two thousands of miles long, never gonna happen. Bad idea. The president has walked that back. Most Republicans have walked it back, but Democrats are for border security, too, and part of that is physical barriers."
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.@RepKatieHill admits that she wants some type of "border fencing" but what's taking place is a semantics issue. https://t.co/oO5Eiqlx7c
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) January 13, 2019
If Democrats know that there's issues at the border, that the wall (or "border barrier" or fencing or whatever else you want to call it) is deteriorating then why is there an argument? Is it because they despise President Trump that much? Is it because they don't want to give him a victory or is it because Democrats don't want Trump to have this major campaign promise fulfilled?
Whatever their reason is, they should take Hill's lead on this. Listen to the people at the border, the experts, those who know what's truly going on, not Jim Acosta, and secure our border. This isn't rocket science. If they're the humanitarians they say they are, this should be a no brainer. This wall could save thousands of lives because fewer people from Central America will try to make the dangerous trek to the United States.
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