Just taking a poll about the shutdown.

[ArrieS]

Here's a newly posted youtube video of a lawsuit filed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RErbTFZPzS4

[Scarfinger]

I am guessing that poll "agree with shutdown" would be a little bit lower after people start missing paychecks

[userque]

I am guessing that poll "agree with shutdown" would be a little bit lower after people start missing paychecks

In my opinion:

Doubtful. Just as the struggling farmers still pledge allegiance to Trump, publicly; so too would this poll not change--even if some of the voters were to face, repossessions, evictions, foreclosures, etc.

Their ids won't allow some of them to ever admit publicly that their paycheck should never be allowed to be used as a bargaining chip by any politician.

[evilanne]

Congress should have settled everything back in September rather than kicking the can down the road but they were more focused on getting through the mid-terms and taking multiple breaks rather than finishing the job. I think our Representatives & Senators should lose 1 week of pay for every day of Government shut down (in whole or in part).

I'm tired of hearing the same arguments on immigration year after year--the same ones for over 3 decades now. They waste $$Millions/Billions on many things every year, so I don't think barrier funding is unreasonable. Maybe this time will be different and they will actually fix something. I'm not holding my breath.

Consider for a moment that building a real wall along the border would easily cost in excess of $50 billion. Why? Because there has been no comprehensive design. The impact on flood flow and ecology hasn't even been glanced at in any real manner. Considerations of soil differences, erosion, waterways, earthquake resistance, and similar issues haven't been adequately studied.

In addition, any wall you build will be easily defeated. The steel prototype that was touted by the Trump administration can be cut through with a battery powered sawzall. Even a concrete barrier can be climbed over with a ladder and a rope.

Finally, most of our illegal immigrants are visa overstays. The drug dealers often use tunnels or come right through our checkpoints. The people who sneak across the desert are most often just desperate farmers- and for them, a much more liberal work visa program is the obvious solution.

So we're going to build a prohibitively expensive wall that will create more problems than it will solve, AND we still won't have addressed the urgent need for an easy work visa.

Great.

There is so many issues with Visa overstay's. They come as a B2 Visitor, and then immediately claim asylum, and stay in the system for almost ten years. I deal with this stuff all the time. Immigration laws need to be changed, but a lot of our arrests and deportations come from criminals entering EWI (entering without inspection), across the Texas and Arizona Border. Especially the aggravated felons. I'm glad someone is finally addressing immigration, but I do agree it should have been first, before tax reform.

This year will be immigration and infrastructure. I wrote legislative policy on mostly veteran bills, and it was unanimous for the most part. But as soon as you say immigration in Congress, no one wants a definitive stance for midterms/elections, so they kick the question/can always down the road. We're finally coming to terms in America that there is roughly 10-30 million unaccounted for people, who need some type of status.

This issue though shouldn't affect people at TSA, the SS, our IRS, or other federal agencies, but it does. I feel for all furloughed, but we knew the risk working for the government. Hopefully, 2019 will bring us a pay raise/promotion and step increase and a bonus.

To Billionair's point of this being the "year of immigration and infrastructure" there is a positive economic impact for the building of the wall. And construction jobs have a multiplier effect on economic activity.

I agree with you both that temporary work visas need to be more accessible/available. They also need to do something regarding DACA/Dreamers rather than keeping them in limbo among other issues like dealing with the VISA overstays and preventing the same thing from happening 10 years down the line. Living in Texas, we definitely have problem with illegal drugs as well as other issues.

mjedlin66, I don't think a fence is the only solution but it has proven effective in many areas. There are ways around any obstacle, however, most will choose the path of least resistance e.g. the caravans primarily went to California.

The Army Corp of Engineers has been doing pre-construction activities like taking soil samples along the border starting in 2017 https://www.constructiondive.com/news/a ... ll/447432/ and I'm sure they have specifications/designs for all types of fencing, walls, etc based on different soil and seismic conditions.

There are multiple Environment Impact Statements/Assessments out their already in addition to a multitude of lawsuits filed over border and environmental issues. This link is for draft Environmental Impact Statements back in 2008 for the Texas-Mexico border https://law.utexas.edu/humanrights/bord ... mpact.html and Congressional Research Service Reports https://law.utexas.edu/humanrights/bord ... s/crs.html from same time frame.

[jlozano042]

Bumping to compare to poll v2

[Tomanyiron]

I was looking a the results, and see, "I agree with the shutdown for funding", has the most votes. But I was wondering, does that mean funding the wall? Or any generic funding?