Democrats Demand Trump Stop Building Border Wall During Coronavirus Crisis

A group of more than 90 House and Senate Democrats are demanding President Trump’s administration halt all border wall construction at the United States-Mexico border during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), along with 24 other Senate Democrats and 66 House Democrats, have sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department, and the Department of Justice requesting a halt on border wall construction.

“While our country to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, continuing border wall construction places local communities at unnecessary risk,” the Democrats wrote. “We request that during this crisis, all border wall construction halt immediately.”

The group of Democrats claims that construction workers helping to build the border wall cannot possibly be practicing social distancing measures and that money allocated for the border wall should be reassigned to aid in the coronavirus fight.

Democrats continued in the letter:

At this juncture, the priority of the United States must be to stop the spread of COVID-19. The continuation of wall construction compromises those efforts. For these reasons, we ask that you take all steps necessary to ensure that border communities are protected from the unnecessary risk of infection during this pandemic and utilize critical resources to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Trump’s administration has promised to construct close to 500 miles of border wall before the November 2020 presidential election. Thus far, less than 160 miles have been completed, while nearly 200 miles are under construction and 403 miles of border wall are in the pre-construction phase.

The wall is likely to cost less than $25 billion to construct, while illegal immigration costs American taxpayers about $132 billion every year — an annual bill five times the cost of the border wall.

While border wall construction continues, Democrats across the country have sought benefits for illegal aliens in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced this week he will provide $500 each to about 150,000 of the state’s more than 2.2 million illegal aliens.

Similarly, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has allowed illegal aliens to gain access to the state’s coronavirus relief money meant for American taxpayers. For weeks, illegal alien activists have lobbied Congress to give $1,200 and $500 checks to the country’s 11 to 22 million illegal aliens.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.