WASHINGTON:Outgoing White House chief John Kelly said in an interview published Sundaythat he had "nothing but compassion" for undocumented migrantscrossing into the US, and undercut President Donald Trump's claims to bebuilding a "wall" at the Mexico border.
As a partial government shutdown entered aninth day due to an impasse over Trump's demands for funding the US-Mexicoborder barrier, the president's chief of staff told the Los Angeles Times:"To be honest, it's not a wall."
"Thepresident still says 'wall.' Oftentimes frankly he'll say 'barrier' or'fencing,' now he's tended toward steel slats," Kelly said. "But weleft a solid concrete wall early on in the administration, when we asked peoplewhat they needed and where they needed it," he added. Building a solid"wall" along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico frontier was a central plank ofTrump's 2016 election campaign, and he has tweeted about it almost 100 timesthis year alone. "Either we build (finish) the Wall or we close theBorder," Trump -- who has adopted the 2020 re-election mantra"promises made, promises kept" -- posted as recently as Friday.
A former Marinegeneral who led the military command responsible for Latin America, Kelly wasTrump's Homeland Security secretary before becoming White House chief of staffin July last year. His relationship with the president reportedly deteriorated,however, and he is to be replaced at the end of the year by Mick Mulvaney, thecurrent budget director. "Illegal immigrants, overwhelmingly, are not badpeople," Kelly told the LA Times, adding that many had been manipulated bytraffickers. "I have nothing but compassion for them, the youngkids." The remarks were in sharpcontrast to the rhetoric of the president who regularly appeals to hisoverwhelmingly white political base by taking a hard line on immigration.
'Patheticimmigration policies'
Trump has spokenof an "invasion" of migrants and complained of "many gangmembers and some very bad people" among a thousands-strong caravan ofimmigrants that traveled to the US in October. Migrants from Central Americasay they want to reach the US to escape poverty and gang violence. Trump hasthreatened to end aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, despite a StateDepartment announcement on December 18 that the US was ready to offer $4.5billion in investment in Central America and southern Mexico, and that theadministration was requesting an additional $180 million in assistance to theregion.
On Saturday Trumpblamed opposition Democrats "and their pathetic immigration policies"for the deaths of two Guatemalan children who crossed the border illegally withrelatives who were taken into custody by US Border Patrol. In a departure fromthe stance taken by his boss, Kelly said the way to halt illegal immigrationwas to "stop US demand for drugs, and expand economic opportunity" inCentral America. Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of US Customs and BorderProtection, said on ABC's "This Week" that investment in CentralAmerica was one element of a "multi-faceted problem" that alsorequires funding border security.
'Wasting taxpayerdollars'
He called for a"sober-minded non-partisan look at our immigration laws" as part ofthe solution to an upsurge in family and child arrivals. "We've asked forabout 1,000 miles of wall... And what we're talking about is not just a dumbbarrier," McAleenan said. "We're talking about censors, cameras,lighting, access roads for our agents, a system that helps us secure that areaof the border."
The Democrats arerefusing to provide billions for Trump's border wall project and the presidentinsists he will not fully fund the government unless he gets the money. As longas the debate holds up approval of a wider spending bill, about 800,000 federalemployees are not getting salaries and non-essential parts of the governmentare unable to function. Kellyanne Conway, a close Trump advisor, said on"Fox News Sunday" that whether the border barrier was a"wall" or not was "a silly semantic argument," adding thatthe president had already compromised, since he had originally asked for $25billion.
Mulvaney told Foxlast week that the administration had shown movement on the latest $5 billiondemand for border security. "We actually came off of our $5 billionslightly," he said. Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries agreed on ABC's"This Week" that immigration reform and enhanced border security wereneeded. "At its core, our responsibility in government is to manage publicmoney. We can either manage it efficiently or we can waste taxpayerdollars," he said. "And what Donald Trump and the Republicans want todo is waste $5 billion in taxpayer money on an ineffective medieval border wallthat is a fifth-century solution to a 21st century problem." - AFP