President Trump Will Speak Today on the Shutdown and Illegal Immigration

President Trump will address the nation this afternoon on the topic of the shutdown and the “humanitarian crisis” at the border. Despite much speculation, nobody knows for certain what he intends to announce. Will he declare an emergency and have the wall built immediately? One can only hope.

The president cancelled Speaker Pelosi’s overseas junket to “visit and thank the troops,” which would seem unnecessary in the first place because Pelosi’s not the Commander in Chief and holds no position in the military.  President Trump cancelled her trip so that the legislators will remain in DC and work on negotiations to reopen the government and solve the stalemate over the budget and border wall funding.

Perhaps President Trump will throw a bone to the Democrats this afternoon. This is what some speculate, but again nobody knows for sure.

There’s mention of the president compromising:

The offer is expected to include Trump’s $5.7 billion demand for wall money in exchange for the BRIDGE Act — which would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — and also legislation to extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Again with the anonymous sources. We know how that sometimes turns out.

So what is this BRIDGE Act? According to a story from Feb. 2017:

• If passed, the BRIDGE Act would allow certain non-citizen US residents to receive “provisional protected presence” or a temporary relief from deportation, so they can legally remain in the US for three years.Currently, these protections are available as part of President Obama’s executive order, creating the DACA program in 2012. The BRIDGE Act is necessary to codify President Obama’s executive order into law. As an executive order, the current or future Presidents could remove the existing protections without any authorization from Congress. As a law, the BRIDGE Act would offer more protection than the existing executive order because it would have to go through Congress’ process in order to be changed or repealed.The BRIDGE Act does not provide a pathway to citizenship. …

  To receive provisional protected presence, the non-US citizen would need to:

  Be born after June 15, 1981 and show that they came into the US at a young ageEntered the US before the age of 16

  Continuously lived in the US from June 15, 2007 to the application date

Have pursued an education

Enrolled in school or educational program to get a high school diploma or equivalent

Received high school diploma or equivalent

Honorably discharged from the US Armed Forces or Coast Guard

Undergo criminal background checks and demonstrate that they do not pose a threat to national security or to public safety

Not be convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors

Pay an application fee

The cost of this fee is decided by the Secretary of Homeland Security and has not yet been decided

There are exemptions to this fee based on family and income criteria.

No information in the application could be used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or US Customs and Border Protection to persecute DACA recipients and the information would be kept confidential by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Of course anything in the above may have already been changed or may change in this new Congress. This is a link to the actual text of the bill.

Personally, I don’t want to see any of Obama’s executive orders codified into law. This story said it’s not a path to citizenship, but who believes that won’t change?

Democrats are all for incrementalism. Give an inch and they eventually take a mile.

Once the so-called Dreamers have more protection under the BRIDGE Act, their supporters will suddenly begin a campaign to give them citizenship instead of 3-year, “second-class” pseudo-citizenship. I mean, where’s your compassion?

If the president does anything that gives amnesty in any form to anyone who’s here illegally, he will suffer a massive erosion in his base of support.

There’s another potential issue that just may be in the president’s mind. Reduction in force layoffs.

A new statement from the Office of Management and Budget provides cold comfort for federal bureaucrats worried that furloughs during the partial shutdown could become permanent layoffs, as long as Democrats refuse to give in and fund the border barrier.

There will be no immediate layoffs (what the federal government calls reductions in force – or  RIFs) if and when the current partial shutdown passes the 30-day mark in four more days.  As … explained yesterday in “Trump’s shutdown trap?,” federal law requires RIFs when federal employees are furloughed more than 30 days.

But after the matter was raised and widely discussed, the OMB issued a statement that indicates that it would require an actual reorganization plan that would make furloughed positions permanently identified as unnecessary, in order for the furloughs to be RIFed.  …

OPM’s 2015 guidance on shutdown furloughs also clarifies the matter.

“Reductions in force furlough regulations and SES competitive furlough requirements are not applicable to emergency shutdown furloughs because the ultimate duration of an emergency shutdown furlough is unknown at the outset and is dependent entirely on congressional action, rather than agency action,” OPM guidance reads.  “The RIF furlough regulations and SES competitive furlough requirements, on the other hand, contemplate planned, foreseeable, money-saving furloughs that, at the outset, are planned to exceed 30 days.”

This emphatically does not rule out the shutdown trap hypothesis that [Thomas Lifson] presented.  It will take some time for reorganization plans to be prepared, but once they are revealed after the 30-day deadline is reached, the “shutdown furloughs” become “administrative furloughs,” and the RIF layoffs are possible.

With the above in mind, is it possible that Trump’s announcement may include an intent to have reorganization plans prepared?

Is it mere coincidence that suddenly the Dept. of State has “found” money in its budget to allow diplomats to come back from furlough next week, just in time to stop the RIF layoff clock?

We will learn shortly what the president has in mind.

Let’s hope it’s something that benefits We the People and is 100% satisfactory with those who have been with President Trump and supporting him from the beginning.

Mr. President:

Build that wall and make America great again.

And no amnesty for illegal aliens.

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