Jason Smith: Democrats' stance on wall proves they hate Trump more than they love their country

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Unfortunately, the ongoing debate over border security has been marked with insanity for years, but especially now with Nancy Pelosi in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Speaker Pelosi publicly said that building a physical barrier on our southern border would be “immoral.” I believe allowing criminals and drugs to flow into our country uninhibited is immoral. Illegal border crossing attempts have spiked to 60,000 now every month, more than the populations of Cape Girardeau and Rolla combined.

In one year’s time, border patrol agents apprehended more than 17,000 adults with criminal records, which is more people than all of Poplar Bluff. And at a time when heroin is killing 300 Americans every week, experts say 90% of this poison enters our country across the southern border.

Up until 2012, more than 90% of attempted border crossings were by adult males. Encouraged by liberal politicians pushing open borders, there has been a massive increase in families forcing small children to make the perilous journey. 

Border patrol agents encountered more than 20,000 children at the border last month alone, 4,000 of whom were five years old or younger. The liberals’ idea of ‘compassion’ is a sham, encouraging thousands of children to march across the desert and endure harsh, deadly conditions. Their idea of ‘generosity’ is encouraging people to take a dangerous trek where they are frequently robbed and kidnapped by criminal gangs and women are often assaulted and vulnerable to trafficking.

It’s not that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t think our country can afford to secure our border, she’s just playing petty partisan politics. 

One of her first acts as Speaker was to pass a bill that would reopen the government with no additional border security funding but included billions of taxpayer dollars in additional foreign aid. The foreign aid she passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives is ten times the amount that President Trump has requested for border security. I think our tax dollars are better spent here at home protecting our country first and foremost before benefiting others. And I take personal offense that she would offer millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to perform abortions overseas before considering one more dollar to keep our nation safe. The President and Senate both agreed and said her plan was going nowhere, but she forced the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on it – twice.

Her party wasn’t always this way. In 2008 the national Democrats’ platform said, “We need to secure our borders, and support additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology here and at our ports of entry.” It called for more Customs and Border Protection agents and supported their mission to keep our country safe, dismantle human smuggling organizations, and combatting crime. 

People in the so-called ‘resistance movement’ are quick to say, “Love trumps hate.” I wish their hatred for President Trump didn’t become more important to them over loving our country and its citizens.

Not listening to the border security experts is insane, and so is making them work without pay. The President has listened to border patrol leaders, visited the southern border, and advocated for the common sense increase in security that they’ve asked for. 

I’m proud to have voted for the only bill that would have received President Trump’s signature because it fully funded his request for physical border security and would’ve prevented a government shutdown. 

Sadly, the partial government shutdown caused by Nancy Pelosi is now the longest in our country’s history. I’m not sure how it will end, but I have a feeling it will include more, well, insanity.