Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 1-1-19

White House And Political News
The Border Wall Go Fund Me Donations May Have To Be Returned To Supporters
A Second Guatemalan Child Has Died In Immigration Custody
A second Guatemalan child being held at a detention center in New Mexico by US Customs and Border Protection has died. The boy was 8 years old.
A Go Fund Me page launched to assist Donald Trump in funding his pro- posed border wall may have to return the millions raised to donors.
At the time of the post Army veteran Brian Kolfage's campaign, titled We The People, raised $16 million toward its $1 billion goal. However, questions re- main if the Federal govern- ment can accept the funds as a gift.
"I think it’s admirable, and I think that the country should respond,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said ex- clusively to The New York Post. Goodlatte has long been vocal about his support for tougher border security.
At the time of this post, the Go Fund Me page for the pres- ident's proposed border wall had raised $16 million toward its 1 billion goal.
“Obviously, we can’t let citi-
zens raise money and say, ‘The government will spend my money on this purpose.’
Kolfage, a Purple Heart recipient, who lost both arms and legs during his time in Iraq galvanized donors by writing "uphold our laws, and get this wall BUILT!”
While Kolfage and like- minded individuals want to assist in the construction of the wall, certain government agencies are prohibited from using the funds without con- gressional appropriation, pri- marily the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border.
Donors, some anonymous others public, donated amounts as small as $5 to as large as $50,000.
On Monday (Dec. 24) the child showed "signs of a po- tential illness" and with his father was taken to a local hospital. He was treated for 90 minutes and reportedly prescribed amoxicillin and Ibuprofen and then released back to the detention center.
That same evening, the 8- year-old was brought back to the hospital due to nausea and vomiting. An hour later, he died.
Earlier in December, an- other Guatemalan child died while in CBP custody. Jake- lin Caal was 7-years-old when she passed from shock and dehydration. Similar to
the boy, she was also detained with her father in a remote part of New Mexico.
The boy's death comes dur- ing a partial government shutdown due to Trump's in- ability to merit funding for his proposed border wall.
Several Democratic mem- bers of Congress along with immigration advocates have harshly criticized CBP's han- dling of Jakelin's death and questioned if enough was done to prevent it.
"An independent and thor- ough review of the circum- stances," has been promised following the 8-year-old's death.
Trump Misleads About Military Pay Raises Again
President Donald Trump incorrectly told troops in Iraq on Wednesday that he gave them their first pay raise in more than 10 years -- a falsehood he has re- peatedly told.
Speaking to troops at Al Asad Air Base during his sur- prise visit to Iraq, Trump told troops: "You protect us. We are always going to pro- tect you. And you just saw that, 'cause you just got one of the biggest pay raises you've ever received. ... You haven't gotten one in more than 10 years. More than 10 years. And we got you a big one.Igotyouabigone.Igot you a big one."
In fact, military pay has in- creased every year for more than three decades. It was raised 2.4% in 2018 and then 2.6% in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The 2.6% pay raise is the largest in the past 9 years.
Donald Trump Returns From
President Trump visiting with the Troops.
WASHINGTON – Return- ing to the White House on Thursday after a whirlwind trip to Iraq, President Don- ald Trump attacked Democ- rats over the border wall funding dispute that has closed parts of the govern- ment.
"Have the Democrats fi- nally realized that we desper- ately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern Border," Trump tweeted early in the morning on the sixth day of the partial gov- ernment shutdown.
Democrats contend that the wall along the U. S.-Mex- ico border that Trump has demanded is unnecessary and would be ineffective in stopping illegal crossings. The impasse has rendered Congress unable to pass a bill to keep government agencies funded.
The President and First Lady quietly swept into Iraq on Wednesday to pay a holi- day visit to U. S. troops -- the first trip Trump has made to a war zone.
"They had plenty of people that came up, they said, 'You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3%, we could make it 2%, we
could make it 4%,'" Trump told the troops about the lat- est pay raise. "I said, 'No. Make it 10%. Make it more than 10%.'"
'Cause it's been a long time, it's been more than 10 years. Been more than 10 years, that's a long time," Trump said, repeating the false claim.
President Donald Trump spent around three and a half hours on the ground in Iraq on his first visit to a troubled re- gion.
In an interview with USA TODAY earlier this week, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of using “scare tac- tics” to build support for his proposed wall, which she joked had been reduced from a giant, cement structure “to, I think, a beaded curtain.”
Iraq, Attacks Democrats Over
Border Wall And Shutdown
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