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WILKES-BARRE — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said the Trump shutdown continues to drag on because of the president’s unwillingness to accept a reasonable border security compromise and his obsession with a wall.
During a conference call from his Washington, D.C. office Thursday, Casey, D-Scranton, said it’s time “to put an end to the wall myth and highlight a number of reasonable alternatives.” Casey was joined on the conference call by former border czar Alan D. Bersin.
Casey highlighted his support of smart border security measures and Bersin detailed the ineffectiveness of a wall strategy.
A 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that, “Department of Homeland Security faces an increased risk that the Border Wall System Program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, and not fully perform as expected.”
Casey said President Donald Trump is “manufacturing a crisis” and said experts say a wall won’t work in combating illegal immigration.
“We all want effective border security,” Casey said. “The real crisis here is the government shutdown. We really have a crisis of leadership when it comes to the president, who should be the leader in the room, instead the president just adds to the uncertainty and chaos that he created. The president is the one who brought the shutdown about.”
‘Real world’
Casey called on Trump and Senate Republicans to end the shutdown immediately. Casey said Trump is spreading fear to get support from taxpayers to fund a wall.
Trump has taken a strong position on his request for $5 billion to fund construction of the wall.
Casey said the majority of illegal immigration is the result of people with visa overstays and he maintained that most illegal drugs enter the U.S. in vehicles and/or containers that pass through ports on entry undetected.
Casey favors spending $300 million per year to increase personnel and improve security equipment at those points of entry, rather than spending $5 billion for a wall.
“I hope he does a little reading to know what’s happening in the real world,” Casey said.
Bersin, who previously served as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agreed that a wall would not stop the flow of illegal drugs, stating more attention needs to be paid to the ports of entry.
“If President Trump is serious about stopping illegal drugs, then he should stop talking about building an ineffective wall and start talking about hiring more people and beginning 24-hour surveillance of vehicle screenings. Technology and manpower are needed at our points of entry.”
Casey went on to caution to “never confuse a concrete wall with border security.”
“When you shut down the government, you make the country less safe,” Casey said, citing the 820,000 federal workers affected, including 14,000 in Pennsylvania.
“We need border security measures that will actually work,” he continued. “The president’s word is not something you want to rely on.”