I think we can say with relative certainty that our Congress Critters/Cretins wouldn’t even be discussing funding border security barriers, let alone negotiating legislation, if Donald Trump hadn’t of forced them into it. As of Sunday morning, talks had broken down, and a national emergency declaration by President Trump was looking more and more likely. That, or yet another government shutdown as its funds run out this Friday. But as we all know, things can change in a microsecond in Washington, D.C., as it appeared to do last night.

While President Trump and the Fake Mexican™ held dueling rallies in the Lone Star State last evening—one based in reality and the other based in unicorn farts (credit to Ocasio-Cortez for that eight-grade phrasing)—the members of the congressional committee arm wrestling behind closed doors in a last-ditch effort to come up with a bipartisan plan to address the southern border crisis (and yes, it is a crisis), may have done just that (gulps tablespoon of salt).

And why did they suddenly find themselves productive on border security? Because President Trump gave them a February 15th deadline to either get him a bill he’ll sign, face another shutdown over their self-serving protection of illegal immigrants, or face his promised declaration of a national emergency and receive absolutely nothing from the Things We Progressives Profess to Care About list.

During the negotiations, the Defund ICE and DHS Crew reportedly tried capping illegal immigrant detention at 16,500—that would include CRIMINAL ALIENS in the number who would be set free, into our interior, to potentially harm innocents (but, hey, VOTES!)—and it sounds as if that insanity was squashed.

U.S. Border Patrol, southern border. (Image from public domain images website. This file is in public domain, not copyrighted, no rights reserved, free for any use.)

While the details are still sketchy and may not be fully divulged until mid-week (and dang it, I was hopeful that our oh-so-hard-working Congress Creeps might actually be taking the issue seriously; silly me!), the “agreement in principle” includes this:

Drum roll, please (and hold on to your red hats):

• $1.375 billion for physical barriers (yes, Princess Nancy, we can legitimately call that CRUMBS).
• 5,000 more detention beds with flexibility for increases
• Secured ICE funding so that it may respond to illegal immigration surges

More:

[The agreement] includes a total of 55 miles [of border barrier], which is just 9 miles shy of Trump’s last budget request.

In exchange, Democrats agreed to drop their demand to restrict the number of people who can be detained by Immigration and Custom Enforcement at a time. Negotiators agreed to fund a total of 40,520 detention beds for ICE, a roughly 17 percent reduction from current levels, the aide said.

But one Republican source was quick to dispute Democrats’ account, saying the $1.375 billion in barrier funding can be used for “new miles of border wall.” The same Republican source suggested that the deal had enough flexibility to actually reach the president’s requested level of 52,000 beds, far above the negotiated level.

Are Republicans wearing “Kick Me” signs on their posteriors? Pretty nebulous if you ask me. Not to mention this “deal” is co-produced by the same suddenly fiscally-responsible people swamp creatures who insist we can most definitely afford the Green New Deal, doncha know.

Meanwhile, Open Borders Beto Robert O’Rourke was reveling in “hundreds” of fans—some bearing Mexican flags on American soil—including creeptastic, massively carbon-footprinted, cult of personality worshipers like this:

Just met Lorri Burnett of El Paso. She said her and her husband turned their RV into a storybook of @BetoORourke’s life that can be part of the O’Rourke museum after his presidency. pic.twitter.com/MI2pSct0UC

— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) February 12, 2019

(does that “Beto storybook” include that fleeing-the-scene-of-a-horrific-crash-he-caused-by-driving-drunk thingy? Just curious…)

And advocating against border barriers…

.@BetoORourke should answer a simple question tonight with respect to the border debate:

If you could snap your fingers and make El Paso’s border wall disappear, would you?

Because this DHS graph shows that when the wall was built, illegal crossings dropped significantly. pic.twitter.com/JgquXfw2Ee

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) February 11, 2019

…while Donald Trump, surrounded in thousands of legal immigration, border security-loving Texans:

Trump's El Paso rally is fired up and PACKED! Fire marshals got 10,000 into the arena with around 25,000 watching outside on big screens.

Meanwhile, Beto and a few hundred of his fans can hear the Trump Rally from a quarter mile away. pic.twitter.com/acq4SwRpEf

— Cari Kelemen (@KelemenCari) February 12, 2019

…with thousands more outside the arena:

Beto trying to counter-program @realdonaldtrump in his hometown and only drawing a few hundred people to Trump’s 35,000 is a really bad look.

Partial pic of the Trump overflow crowd below! #AnyQuestions pic.twitter.com/PKxkbcFNFO

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 12, 2019

…was once again body-slamming his extreme leftist opponents and laying out the ugly facts about illegal immigration and how it harms both Americans and those who try to come here seeking a better life. And much of America agrees with him.

In fact, illegal immigration costs taxpayers a staggering $134.9 billion a year while contributing only $19 billion in state, federal, and local taxes. At the federal level, medical costs make up the lion’s share of government expenditures on illegal immigrants, while education is the largest single expense that illegal immigration imposes on state and local governments.

Sadly, an overloaded welfare state is not the only negative side-effect of our broken immigration system. Communities across America are also being devastated by the violent crime and drug trafficking that result from our failure to control the border…

So dare I say it? I’m not tired of winning yet. And though I remain skeptical that the overpaid group of Congressional do-nothings can solve anything with any effectiveness and efficiency, I’m looking forward to watching that big beautiful barrier being built anyway, with or without them. Because walls do work, and they work well; it’s why we already have them, and why we’re building more of them right now, in states like Texas, despite Congress’ public protestations to the contrary.

Meanwhile, I think it’s fair to say: Beto’s border bash was a bigly boring bust.

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Feature image credit: As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain. Altered by author.