The 2019 government shutdown was an absolute mess. This clearly partisan debate that should have remained in Congress was put onto the American public.
To break it down, a government shutdown is when non-essential bodies of government are closed temporarily due to a gap in funding. This usually happens when the approval of a federal budget is delayed. President Donald Trump, and his supporters in Congress, wanted 5.7 billion dollars to fund the construction of a concrete barrier at the southern border.
The wall is completely pointless and would do absolutely nothing to stop undocumented immigration. According to PolitiFact, it is estimated that 27 to 40 percent of all undocumented immigrants in America flew over in planes and overstayed their visa. Even if a wall was built, it wouldn’t slow down illegal immigration. Instead it might increase.
According to Douglas Massey, a researcher and professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton, this is due to something called “circular flow.” Over the last three decades, the U.S. has rapidly increased its border security with Mexico. “Greater enforcement raised the costs of undocumented border crossing, which required undocumented migrants to stay longer in the U.S. to make a trip profitable,” said Massey. “Greater enforcement also increased the risk of death and injury during border crossing. As the costs and risks rose, migrants naturally minimized border crossing — not by remaining in Mexico but by staying in the United States.”
As of 2016, there were about 10.7 million undocumented immigrants already inside the country. If all of those people were deported it would devastate the U.S. economy and cripple the nation.
So if the wall won’t do anything, why did Trump decide to hold the government hostage? It was in order to maintain his reputation. The wall is just a political move now, and Trump is just doing it because if he doesn’t he will look like a fool to his voter base. If his base senses this, then he will lose any chance he has at a re-election.
Donald Trump and the GOP are now viewed in a bad light. They came out expecting very little resistance, and ended up in a worse situation than before. Because of their actions, 800,000 people’s incomes hanging by a thread. That is not how government workers should be treated.
Currently, the government has been temporarily re-opened. Congress has three weeks to come to a deal, or else the government will shut down again; which would be Donald Trump’s third shutdown in the three years he has been president.
Hopefully, Congress will be able to put their differences aside and come to an agreement. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that partisanship will overcome common sense.