Remember When Dems Called Border Crisis 'Manufactured?' Now They're Preparing a $4.5 Billion Aid Package
In January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fought back against President Donald Trump’s wish to further secure and aid the border, saying that the president was using “the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis.”
That came during an address Trump delivered from the White House, in which he said the current immigration situation is “a crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul.”
However, it seems that Democrats have suddenly changed their tune since earlier this year. According to the Washington Examiner, both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee have put together a tentative agreement for a $4.59 billion humanitarian aid package designated for the border crisis.
Here’s a quick summary of the package details, as the Washington Examiner reported:
-$65 million to hire 30 new immigration judges and help educate detained immigrants on the legal process.
-$155 million to U.S. Marshals Service for prisoner transportation, housing, care.
-$1.1 billion for Customs and Border Protection to improve conditions at border entry points, transportation, medical care and items like clothing, baby formula and other essential items.
-$204 million to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for transportation of illegals, medical care, and “alternatives to detention.”
-$30 million to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the care of “homeless migrants.”
-$2.88 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services for the care of unaccompanied alien children.
Many Democratic officials have come around in recent weeks, it seems. That could be attributed to seeing the increasing number of arrests that have been made on the border — including some involving smugglers who’ve used rented children to get them and others across.
In addition, children dying while in custody of the U.S. Border Patrol — one as recently as May, as NPR reported — could also have been a catalyst for Democratic changes in heart.
The move marks a major U-turn for Democrats, as they were extremely dismissive of the Trump administration’s call for aid, as evidenced in a January tweet by Rep. Bennie Thompson.
“The President has manufactured a humanitarian crisis. It is solely Trump’s fault NOT the Democrats,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote.
The President has manufactured a humanitarian crisis. It is solely Trump’s fault NOT the Democrats.
— Bennie G. Thompson (@BennieGThompson) January 9, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has also weighed in on the president’s call for action. “Mr. President, we don’t need to create artificial crises. We have enough real ones,” he tweeted. “Let us end this shutdown and bring the American people together around an agenda that will improve life for all of our people.”
Mr. President, we don’t need to create artificial crises. We have enough real ones. Let us end this shutdown and bring the American people together around an agenda that will improve life for all of our people.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 9, 2019
After January, many officials became mysteriously quiet about Trump’s demands to help rectify the immigration crisis.
“I haven’t heard anyone say it’s a manufactured crisis for quite some time,” Rep. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee noted of his liberal colleagues, according to The Hill.
It’s seems that the “manufactured crisis” rhetoric from Democrats not only didn’t stick, but was essentially reversed as the problem on the border — one that many Americans deal with every day — has become exponentially worse.
It’ll be more than interesting to see where Democrats stand on the issue as they inch closer to the 2020 presidential election.
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