JANUARY 21, 2019

NEWS AND VIEWS

“BEFORE THEY GOT CENTERED ON THE BLACK ISRAELITES, THEY WOULD WALK THROUGH AND SAY THINGS TO EACH OTHER, LIKE, ‘OH, THE INDIANS IN MY STATE ARE DRUNKS OR THIEVES,’” THE 64-YEAR-OLD SAID.” FROM THE LEAD TEEN IN THIS INTERPERSONAL ASSAULT, COMES: “... I WAS WORRIED THAT A SITUATION WAS GETTING OUT OF CONTROL WHERE ADULTS WERE ATTEMPTING TO PROVOKE TEENAGERS.” NOW THAT IS A POINT OF VIEW THAT I HAVE NEVER HEARD EXPRESSED BEFORE. ADULTS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO “PROVOKE” TEENAGERS. TEENS RULE, RIGHT? IT’S FASCINATING, AND ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE NATURE OF THIS SITUATION, THAT A CONGRESSMAN, REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-Ky.) PRAISED THE YOUNG STUDENTS FOR THEIR ACTIONS RATHER THAN THE REVERSE. THE REPORT DOES NOT SAY THAT MASSIE WAS ON THE SCENE AT THE TIME SO THAT HE WOULD BE ABLE TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT DID GO ON. SEE ALSO THE SECOND ARTICLE ON THIS SUBJECT BELOW FROM forward.com.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/picture-of-the-conflict-on-the-mall-comes-into-clearer-focus/2019/01/20/c078f092-1ceb-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html?fbclid=IwAR0iUcGrLrxSm8iLrUhlTEew-TEiM3ulD3POC-1Ra4oaJtPbp8g0xgocR3Y&noredirect=on&utm_term=.efc078ecf715

Social Issues
Viral standoff between a tribal elder and a high schooler is more complicated than it first seemed
By Michael E. Miller January 21 at 2:49 PM

The three groups that met Friday in the cold shadow of the Lincoln Memorial could hardly have been more different. They were indigenous rights activists from Michigan, Catholic schoolboys from Kentucky — some wearing Make America Great Again hats — and Hebrew Israelites from the nation’s capital.

They were Native American, Caucasian and African American; old, young and middle-aged.

And there, beneath the fallen president’s promise to work “with malice toward none, with charity for all,” they came together in an incident that would echo nationwide for its ugliness.

The Israelites and students exchanged taunts, videos show. The Native Americans and Hebrew Israelites say some students shouted, “Build the wall!” But the chant is not heard on the widely circulated videos, and the Cincinnati Enquirer quotes Nick Sandmann, the student at the center of the confrontation, saying he did not hear anyone utter the phrase.

When a Native American elder intervened, singing and playing a prayer song, scores of students around him seem to mimic and mock him, a video posted Monday shows. At one point, he found himself face to face with Sandman, whose frozen smile struck some as nervousness and others as arrogance.

Neither budged.

Tribal elder Nathan Phillips, 64, stands before Nick Sandmann, a high school student from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky., near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. (Jon Stegenga/Humanizing Through Story)

Video footage of the tense confrontation quickly went viral, stirring outrage across the political spectrum. The Kentucky teens’ church apologized on Saturday, condemning the students’ actions. By Sunday, however, conservative commenters on social media were saying it was the students who had been wronged, and the organizers of the March for Life, the event that drew the teens to Washington, rescinded their initial criticism of the youths.

Sandmann, an 11th-grader, said in a statement provided to the Enquirer that he and his classmates had been called “racists,” “bigots” and worse. He said he was “remaining motionless and calm” in hopes that things would not “get out of hand.”

The Native American elder said he was caught in the middle.

“When I took that drum and hit that first beat . . . it was a supplication to God,” said Nathan Phillips, a member of the Omaha tribe and a Marine veteran. “Look at us, God, look at what is going on here; my America is being torn apart by racism, hatred, bigotry.”

The incident, and the finger-pointing that followed, seemed to capture the worst of America at a moment of extreme political polarization, as discourse once again gave way to division, and people drew conclusions on social media before all the facts were known.

PHOTOGRAPH -- High school students from Covington Catholic High School chant before a crowd of Native American activists Friday on the Mall. (Jon Stegenga/Humanizing Through Story)

[Meet the segregationist’s granddaughter trying to get rid of the Stars and Bars]

'Did I provoke that?'

The students, from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky. were one of scores of school groups bused to the annual March for Life.

The Native American activists were there for the Indigenous Peoples March.

So were the Hebrew Israelites, who believe African Americans are God’s chosen people and the real descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible.

“We were there to teach, to teach the truth of the Bible, to show them our real history,” said Shar Yaqataz Banyamyan, one of five Hebrew Israelites* on the Mall that day.

The group has militant members and “a long, strange list of enemies” that includes whites, Jews, Asians, members of the LGBTQ community, abortion rights advocates and continental Africans, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Banyamyan said he and those with him Friday believe in using blunt language, but not violence. A video he posted to social media shows them insulting other marchers.

“Where’s your husband?” one Hebrew Israelite asked a woman who had stopped to argue with the group. “Bring your husband. Let me speak to him.”

At one point, the Hebrew Israelites began arguing with Native American activists, telling them the word “Indian” means “savage,” according to the video.

While the groups argued, some students laughed and mocked them, according to Banyamyan and another Hebrew Israelite, Ephraim Israel, who came from New York for the event. As tension grew, the Hebrew Israelites started insulting the students.

“Tell them to come over in the lion’s den instead of mocking from over there,” Banyamyan can be heard saying in the video. “Y’all dirty ass little crackers, your day is coming.”

“They were sitting there, mocking me as I was trying to teach my brothers, so yes the attention turned to them,” Israel told The Washington Post. “I explained to them, you want to build the wall for Mexicans and other indigenous people, but you’ve never seen a black or a Mexican shoot up a school.”

[Kentucky diocese condemn teens’ conduct at March for Life]

Phillips said he and his fellow Native American activists also had issues with the students throughout the day.

“Before they got centered on the black Israelites, they would walk through and say things to each other, like, ‘Oh, the Indians in my state are drunks or thieves,’” the 64-year-old said.

Phillips said he heard students shout, “Go back to Africa!”

Sandmann said in his statement that he “did not witness or hear any students chant ‘build that wall’ or anything hateful or racist at any time. Assertions to the contrary are simply false.”

He said he and his classmates were shouting cheers they knew from school, with permission from their chaperones, “to drown out the hateful comments that were being shouted at us by the protesters.”

By 5 p.m., the light was fading on the Mall and both marches had mostly petered out. A group of around 100 Covington students had gathered on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, where they had been told to meet before catching their buses home.

The Hebrew Israelites were also still there, and still insulting the students.

“You all are a bunch of Donald Trump incest babies,” Israel said to them, according to the video, before asking if there were any black students among them.

When a black Covington student came forward, Israel called him “Kanye West” and the n-word, the footage shows. He tells the teen his friends will one day harvest his organs, an apparent reference to the racially fraught movie “Get Out.”

At that point, the students began chanting, jumping and shouting. The songs culminated in one student stripping off his shirt and shouting as others cheered.

“The chants are commonly used at sporting events. They are all positive in nature,” Sandmann said. “We would not have done that without obtaining permission from the adults in charge of our group.”

Banyamyan said the Hebrew Israelites took the performance as a racist impersonation.

“They were mocking my ancestors in a chant, one of them was jumping up and down like a cave man,” he said. “Did I provoke that?”

'A mob mentality'

To Jessica Travis, a Florida attorney who was at the memorial with her mother, the students looked out of control.

“The kids really went into a mob mentality, honestly,” she said, adding that she didn’t see any chaperones trying to control the situation. She said she heard one student tell the Hebrew Israelites to “drink the Trump water.”

Jon Stegenga, a photojournalist who drove to Washington on Friday from South Carolina to cover the Indigenous Peoples March, recalled hearing students say “build the wall” and “Trump 2020.” He said it was about that time that Phillips intervened.

“He said, ‘I wish I could say something to these people, to the whole crowd,’ ” Stegenga said in an interview Sunday.

Another member of the Indigenous Peoples March suggested Phillips start singing, the photographer said. Phillips played a prayer song on a drum as he walked toward the students.

Some of the students began doing a “Tomahawk chop” and dancing, the video shows. Phillips said he found it offensive, but kept walking and drumming.

Most of the students moved out of his way, the video shows. But Sandmann stayed still.

Asked why he felt the need to walk into the group of students, Phillips said he was trying to reach the top of the memorial, where friends were standing. But Phillips also said he saw more than a teenage boy in front of him. He saw a long history of white oppression of Native Americans.

“Why should I go around him?” he asked. “I’m just thinking of 500 years of genocide in this country, what your people have done. You don’t even see me as a human being.”

Stegenga described Phillips as emotional. “He was dealing with a lot of feelings, as he was being surrounded and not being shown respect,” the photographer said. “In Native American culture, respect of elders is everything. . . . It was a heartbroken feeling.”

[The Indians were right, the English were wrong: A tribe reclaims its past]

Phillips said he blamed both the students and the Hebrew Israelites for what happened.

“If it wasn’t for those Israelites being there in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “And if it wasn’t for the lack of responsibility from school chaperones, this wouldn’t have happened either.”

Sandmann said Phillips bore responsibility, too.

“He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face,” the statement said. “ I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protesters . . . I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers.”

School officials and the Catholic Diocese of Covington released a joint statement Saturday condemning and apologizing for the students’ actions. “The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion,” the statement said. In a column on the town website, Covington Mayor Joe Meyer declared that “The videos being shared across the nation do NOT represent the core beliefs and values of this City.”

The debate over what happened continued to play out on social media Monday, with one Twitter user posting video that showed Covington students jumping and yelling around Phillips as he played. Sandmann does not appear to be in the clip.

With his statement circulating, and more attention focused on the behavior of the Hebrew Israelites, some public reaction had already shifted. March for Life organizers, who on Saturday had called the teens’ behavior “reprehensible,” deleted that statement from their website Sunday evening and pledged to reserve judgement.

“It is clear from new footage and additional accounts that there is more to this story than the original video captured,” the group said in a new statement. “We will refrain from commenting further until the truth is understood.”

And Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), tweeted that “in the face of racist and homosexual slurs, the young boys refused to reciprocate or disrespect anyone.”

“In the context of everything that was going on (which the media hasn’t shown) the parents and mentors of these boys should be proud, not ashamed, of their kids’ behavior. It is my honor to represent them,” Massie’s tweet said.

In his statement, Sandmann said he had received “death threats via social media, as well as hateful insults. One person threatened to harm me at school, and one person claims to live in my neighborhood.” He said he was “mortified that so many people have come to believe something that did not happen — that students from my school were chanting or acting in a racist fashion toward African Americans or Native Americans.”

Travis, [A lawyer] who was in town to attend the Women’s March before sightseeing, said the scene on Friday shocked her and her mother.

“It was really depressing,” she said, “to see we are even more divided than ever.”

Moriah Balingit, Michelle Boorstein, DeNeen L. Brown, Joe Heim and Julie Tate contributed to this report.


HEBREW ISRAELITES*

Black Hebrew Israelites
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY
WRITTEN BY: Gerald D. Jaynes
See Article History
LATEST DATE: Oct 26, 2017
Alternative Title: The Original African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem

Black Hebrew Israelites, byname of the Original African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, African American religious community in Israel, the members of which consider themselves to be the descendents of a lost tribe of Israel. Black Hebrew Israelites hold religious beliefs that differ from those of modern Jewish communities in Israel. Black Hebrew Israelites permit polygamy and forbid birth control. Leaders decide who will marry and whether marriage annulments will be permitted, and they perform wedding ceremonies. Black Hebrew Israelites are vegans, avoiding the consumption of meat, dairy, eggs, and sugar. Members adopt Hebrew names to replace names they believe could be derived from slavery.

PHOTOGRAPH -- Black Hebrew Israelites.
© Rafael Ben-ari/Dreamstime.com

Most Black Hebrew Israelites live in Dimona, Israel, with the first ones arriving in that country in 1969. The group began in Chicago in 1967 under the leadership of Ben Ammi Ben Israel, an African American whose birth name was Ben Carter. Ben Israel appointed 30 disciples and in 1967 moved the group to Liberia before embarking for their final destination in Israel.

The Black Hebrew Israelites’s claims of Jewish heritage provoked substantial debate in Israel. Israeli law offers citizenship for all Jews throughout the world, but the Black Hebrew Israelites could produce no evidence to substantiate their Jewish heritage. After much investigation, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel thus decided that the Black Hebrew Israelites were not really Jewish and were not entitled to citizenship.

The Black Hebrew Israelites entered Israel with temporary visas, which were periodically renewed while the government considered their claims to citizenship. They were allowed to live, work, and receive health care in Israel and were given loans so they could meet their basic needs. However, their non-citizen status did not provide the free education for their children, tax exemptions, and loans for permanent settlement that were available to Jewish immigrants.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Israeli government did not take steps to deport the Black Hebrew Israelites, but neither did it offer them citizenship, which led to heated discussions in the country. The Black Hebrew Israelites could obtain full citizenship by formally converting to Judaism, but they refused. Meanwhile, the Black Hebrew Israelites population of Dimona grew, aided by high birthrates among the group and by additional members entering Israel. Some Black Hebrew Israelites, frustrated by their lack of citizenship, denounced Israel and adopted anti-Semitic rhetoric, arguing that white Jews were frauds and that Black Hebrew Israelites were the only true Jewish descendents.

Critics in Israel labeled the Black Hebrew Israelites a cult, a charge the group adamantly denied, and argued for their expulsion. However, proposals for their deportation met with hunger strikes in Dimona and objections from supporters in the United States. The U.S. Congress and African American leaders in the United States argued in favour of the Black Hebrew Israelites’ continued residence in Israel and sent funds, including subsidies provided by Congress, to establish a school for the Black Hebrew Israelites’ children.

In 1990 the Black Hebrew Israelites and the Israeli Ministry of the Interior reached an agreement. The Black Hebrew Israelites would be granted tourist status for one year, until they were accorded temporary residency status. Temporary residency status would be reviewed in five years, in 1995, and reviewed periodically thereafter. Status as temporary residents made the Black Hebrew Israelites eligible for financial support from the Israeli government. The Israeli government later also agreed to build a permanent organic farming village for the group in the Negev region of Israel. The Black Hebrew Israelites continued to live and work in Israel, earning money through farming, their well-known choir, sewing, and a vegan food factory and restaurants.

Gerald D. Jaynes


WHAT WE HAVE IN OPERATION HERE IS HATRED. WE HAVE COME TO MISTAKE IT FOR LOYALTY. FROM THIS ARTICLE IT APPEARS THAT THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS WERE THE INSTIGATORS OF THE STANDOFF BETWEEN THE HEBREW ISRAELITES AND THEIR GROUP, OR AT ANY RATE EQUAL PARTICIPANTS. THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT THE NATIVE AMERICANS SAID ANYTHING OF THAT KIND, THOUGH THE LEADER, MR. PHILLIPS, DID WALK TOWARD THEM WITH THE GOAL, HE SAID, OF GETTING THROUGH THE HUNDRED OR SO BOYS RATHER THAN HAVING TO WALK AROUND THEM; NO GROUP SHOULD BLOCK THE PATH OF PEOPLE NEEDING TO WALK THROUGH, ESPECIALLY ELDERLY PEOPLE.

AND WHERE IN HEAVENS NAME WERE THOSE CHAPERONES? THE ONLY GROUP WHO WEREN’T TOSSING OUT INSULTS AND CHANTS, WAS THE AMERICAN NATIVES. THAT “HAND CHOP” GESTURE IS RACIST, REFERRING TO THE USE OF INDIAN WAR AXES. THE FIRST TIME I SAW IT WAS ON TV AT A FOOTBALL GAME. I DO HOPE THIS WON’T BE THE END OF THE WONDERFUL FOLK LIFE FESTIVAL ON THE WASHINGTON DC MALL EVERY YEAR. THOSE OF US WHO DO WANT TO GO AND SEE DANCES, MUSIC, NATIVE COSTUMES, TALKS, FOOD AND MORE, USED TO FILL THE MALL WITH VISITORS ANNUALLY. THAT’S THE AMERICAN SPIRIT, NOT VERBALLY ASSAULTING “THE OTHERS.” MAGA IS THE ANTITHESIS OF IT.

I’VE NEVER FELT ANYTHING EXCEPT APPRECIATION FOR VARIETY IN LIFE, ESPECIALLY IN HUMAN LIFE, AND I DEFINITELY THINK THAT USING RELIGIONS TO DIVIDE RATHER THAN TO APPROACH A FAIR AND MERCIFUL GOD IS SHAMEFUL. I HOPE THIS COUNTRY WILL GRAVITATE BACK TOWARD THAT POSITION OF TOLERANCE AND CARING SOON AND STAY THERE, AS PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS ARE ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE.

ABOVE ALL, I HOPE WE DON’T HAVE A NEO-FASCIST IN THE OVAL OFFICE AGAIN, OR AS HE HAS RECENTLY CALLED HIMSELF, A “NATIONALIST.” WE ARE A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY, WHICH IS THE SOURCE OF OUR BEST CHARACTERISTICS AS A PEOPLE. TRUMP’S MOST RECENT COMMENTS ABOUT “POCAHONTAS” HAVE BEEN CONNECTED IN ONE OF THESE NEWS ARTICLES WITH THE KIDS DISRESPECT TO THE NATIVE AMERICANS. THIS SIMPLY MUSTN’T BE “A TREND.”

OUR CONSTITUTION FORBIDS A RELIGIOUS TEST, WHICH I APPROVE, BUT AN OATH COVERING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR TO ALL CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE, TO BE ADMINISTERED ON THE FIRST DAY OF EACH CANDIDATE’S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THEY ARE RUNNING, DECLARING THEIR OPENNESS, FAIRNESS AND HUMANE STANCE, COULD BE USED TO GOOD EFFECT, I THINK. THERE SHOULD BE NO RELEASE FROM THAT OATH, EITHER. WHY DON’T WE DO THAT, AS WE DO THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE USA? IS IT ANY LESS IMPORTANT?

SAYING AN OATH WON’T GUARANTEE ADHERENCE TO THOSE PRINCIPLES, BUT PERHAPS MENTIONING THEM IN CONNECTION WITH HOLDING OFFICE WOULD MAKE THE PUBLIC AWARE THAT EVERY CITIZEN SERVANT IS OBLIGATED TO DO THAT, AND CAN BE BARRED FROM SERVING IF HE DOESN’T. IT COULD BE ENFORCED, HOWEVER, IF AN IN-DEPTH WRITTEN PLEDGE OF THE DUTIES OF OFFICE WERE REQUIRED; THE FAILURE TO ABIDE BY SUCH A PLEDGE COULD BE GROUNDS FOR EXPULSION, RATHER THAN MERELY A VERBAL PLEDGE. OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD BE CLEANER AND MORE HONEST IF THAT WERE THE CASE, I THINK.

THE SPOKEN WORD ALONE IS NOT LEGALLY BINDING, NOT AS POWERFULLY AS A DOCUMENT. ONE CANDIDATE IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, I DON’T REMEMBER WHO RIGHT NOW, PLEDGED HIS OATH WITH HIS HAND ON A COPY OF THE CONSTITUTION, WHICH SEEMS MORE APPROPRIATE AND BINDING TO ME, BECAUSE WE ARE A CIVIL AND NOT A RELIGIOUSLY BASED NATION; AND A SIGNED WRITTEN DOCUMENT IS USABLE IN COURT, WHICH WOULD BE HANDY AT TIMES LIKE THESE. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT IF THE ADULTS WOULD REMOVE RACIAL, RELIGIOUS AND OTHER UNFAIR BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES FROM THEIR LIVES, THE YOUNG PEOPLE WOULD BE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO DO IT ALSO.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/417839/what-did-hebrew-israelites-have-to-do-with-standoff-at-lincoln-memorial/
What Did Hebrew Israelites Have To Do With Standoff At Lincoln Memorial?
January 21, 2019 By Alyssa Fisher

A group of Hebrew Israelites was entangled in confrontation in Washington, D.C., exchanging insults with Catholic students in red Make America Great Again hats and Native American protestors, The Washington Post reported.

Five Hebrew Israelites were at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, along with the Native American activists, for the Indigenous Peoples March.

“We were there to teach, to teach the truth of the Bible, to show them our real history,” Shar Yaqataz Banyamyan told the Post.

Hebrew Israelites are people of color, mostly African Americans, who believe they are the descendants of biblical Israelites.

For more information, read the Forward’s explainer here.

Videos show them exchanging insults with the schoolboys from Kentucky, who were there for March for Life event, a rally for the pro-life movement.

“Tell them to come over in the lion’s den instead of mocking from over there,” Banyamyan can be heard saying in the video. “Y’all dirty ass little crackers, your day is coming.”

They also taunted the Native Americans, arguing that the word “Indian” means “savage.”

Ephraim Israel, another Hebrew Israelite present, told the Post that tensions flared when the students started making fun of them.

“They were sitting there, mocking me as I was trying to teach my brothers, so yes the attention turned to them,” Israel said. “I explained to them, you want to build the wall for Mexicans and other indigenous people, but you’ve never seen a black or a Mexican shoot up a school.”

He also called them “a bunch of Donald Trump incest babies” pointed out a black student, who he called “Kanye West” and the n-word.

Nathan Phillips, a member of the Omaha tribe and a Marine veteran, said he blamed both the students and the Hebrew Israelites — who were there as it began to get dark — for the mob-like scene.

“If it wasn’t for those Israelites being there in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened,” he told the Post. “And if it wasn’t for the lack of responsibility from school chaperones, this wouldn’t have happened either.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher


LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS, AS WELL AS READING THIS ARTICLE. IT SUMS UP THE ISSUES OF SURROUNDING THE INFAMOUS BORDER WALL.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46824649
Trump wall - all you need to know about US border in seven charts
By Lucy Rodgers and Dominic Bailey
BBC News
21 January 2019

GRAPHICS – GO TO WEBSITE.

A standoff over funding for President Donald Trump's long-promised border wall has resulted in the longest-ever shutdown of the US government.

Mr Trump argues $5.7bn (£4.5bn) is needed to address a "humanitarian and security crisis" at the southern border and has warned the shutdown will continue until he gets the cash.

Democrats say the wall is a waste of taxpayers' money and accuse the Trump administration of a "manufactured crisis".

Here are seven charts and maps that try to explain where we are with the wall and what the situation is like at the US-Mexico border.

1. Trump hasn't built very much of his wall
Before Mr Trump took office, there were 654 miles (just over 1,000km) of barrier along the southern border - made up of 354 miles of barriers to stop pedestrians and 300 miles of anti-vehicle fencing.

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Mr Trump promised to build a wall along the border's entire 2,000-mile length.

He later clarified that it would only cover half of that - with nature, such as mountains and rivers, helping to take care of the rest.

But, since Mr Trump entered the White House, although some of the already existing barriers have been replaced, no construction on any extension to the wall has yet been started.

Sixteen ways the US shutdown is hurting
Is there a crisis on the US-Mexico border?
Six charts on the immigrants who call the US home
Six things that could topple the border wall

Overall, Congress has so far approved $1.7bn in funding for 124 miles of new and replacement barrier since Mr Trump entered the White House.

Just over 40 miles of replacement barriers have been built or begun. Construction is expected to start on 61 more miles of replacement barrier in 2019. This equates to new sections of about 15% of existing structures.

The first construction on any extension to the existing structures - what could be termed new barrier - will start in February in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

The twin projects will cover a total of 14 miles - one barrier stretching six miles and the other eight miles.

Despite Mr Trump's continued determination to see a wall along the border, a survey this month by the Pew Research Center suggests the majority of Americans - 58% - oppose substantially expanding it, while 40% support it.

2. No-one really knows how much it would cost
A number of widely different estimates for a concrete wall have been put forward by official and unofficial bodies - ranging from $12bn to $70bn.

Mr Trump's initial price tag of between $8bn and $12bn (£6.4bn and £9.7bn) for a wall covering half the length of the border was widely disputed.

The 650 miles of fencing built under President George W Bush cost an estimated $7bn, and it could not be described as fulfilling Mr Trump's promises of a "tall, powerful, beautiful" barrier.

However, Mr Trump is now asking for $5.7bn in addition to the $1.7bn already allocated for new and replacement barriers.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) previously estimated a wall spanning half the border would cost up to $25bn, but it has now said it is still looking at options to determine the price tag.

US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) says that, on average, it costs approximately $6.5m per mile to construct a new border wall or replace existing legacy fence.

3. Trump wanted concrete, but is now talking about steel
Mr Trump has changed his view of what constitutes a wall.

His promise to build a "big, beautiful wall" between the US and Mexico was a rallying cry throughout his election campaign. And early on, when he described it, he talked about concrete.

But once elected, he began talking about a barrier made of steel, so that border agents could see through it.

And in October 2017, when the Trump administration revealed eight 30ft-tall wall prototypes - they were a combination of concrete and metal.

Since December, Mr Trump has said he does not want to build a concrete wall at all, but instead wants "artistically-designed steel slats".

And just before the government shutdown, he tweeted an image of the design of his "steel slat barrier", which he said was "totally effective while at the same time beautiful".

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Officials at the US Customs and Border Protection agency have said none of the Trump administration prototypes tested in 2017 met its operational requirements.

However, they did provide "valuable data" to help select design elements in the future, they added.

4. The number of apprehensions at the southern border has declined over time
Mr Trump said in a national address in early January that a wall was needed to stem a "growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border", involving "thousands of illegal immigrants".

In exchanges with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Mr Trump also said that people were "pouring into our country".

However, figures show that illegal border crossings have seen an overall decline since 2000.

In 2000, 1.6 million people crossed the border illegally, while last year that number was just under 400,000.

In 2017, Mr Trump's first year in office, they were the lowest they had been since 1971.

Every congressperson along the southern border opposes the border wall, arguing it would not improve security.

"I think building a concrete structure sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security," said Republican Will Hurd, who represents more of the southern border than any other member of Congress.

5. But arrests and asylum claims did rise again between 2017 and 2018
Between 2017 and 2018, arrests - the number of people apprehended by authorities - on the Mexico-US border rose by about 100,000 and asylum claims rose by about 16,000 - up 43%.

Among these groups were a rising number of families fleeing violence in Central America and surrendering themselves to US authorities at the border. Many have told officials that they fear returning to their home countries.

Some have blamed the decision to slash the number of refugees allowed into the US under the Refugee Admissions Program for the rise in such claims for asylum at the border.

To apply for refugee status in the US, foreign nationals must obtain permission to enter the country before travelling, but those arriving at the US border are able to claim asylum "defensively" to prevent them from being deported back to a situation of "credible fear".

Such claims are then referred to the Asylum Officers of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

And despite Mr Trump's claims, any new border barrier is unlikely to stop these migrants legally claiming asylum at a port of entry.

6. Most illegal immigration is from visa 'overstayers', not people crossing the border
Although Mr Trump has blamed the southern border for illegal immigration, most actually arises because people overstay their visas.

While almost 400,000 people were apprehended trying to cross the southern border illegally last year, more than 700,000 people who entered the US legally overstayed their expected departure date in 2018, according to the DHS.

Canadians were the highest group of overstayers, according to DHS figures, followed by Mexicans and Brazilians.

Although the number of overstayers overall dropped to around 420,000 in May 2018 - it was still more than the number of people arrested trying to enter illegally via the Mexico-US border.

7. The wall is unlikely to stop drugs coming into the US
Mr Trump has claimed 90% of heroin comes across the southern border and that a wall would help the fight against drugs.

Nationwide heroin seizures reached 7,979kg in 2017, with 39% seized at the US-Mexico border, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Most of the border seizures were in the San Diego corridor - approximately 1,073kg in 2017, a 59% increase on the previous year.

While most of the heroin in the US does come from Mexico, the DEA says the majority of it is smuggled in through legal ports of entry, hidden in privately-owned vehicles or transporter lorries, mixed with other goods.

Only a small percentage of the heroin seizures were between entry points - where barriers exist or are proposed.

In fact, there are already barriers in border patrol sectors with the highest volumes of heroin seizures.

Design by Sandra Rodriguez Chillida.

Related Topics
US government shutdownMexico–US border

More on this story
. . . Trump wall: President addresses nation on border 'crisis'
9 January 2019
. . . #ShutdownStories: The impact of the government shutdown
11 January 2019
. . . US government shutdown: Six ways it could end
16 January 2019
. . . Six charts on the immigrants who call the US home
29 November 2018


I HAVE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE IS DESCRIBING BY “PART WAYS.” THEIR PERSONAL STYLE SEEMS TO BE THE DIFFERENCE, RATHER THAN A DISAGREEMENT IN MEANING. SANDERS IS BEING SPECIFIC, AS USUAL, AND BOOKER IS BEING “PHILOSOPHICAL,” SPEAKING OF “UNITY.” WHEN I HEAR PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT UNITY, I TEND TO LOOK CLOSELY AT WHAT THEY WANT ME TO DO TO ACHIEVE THAT UNITY. WHAT ARE THE PURPOSES AND GOALS? AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED, THIS IS “EARLY DAYS” FOR A PLATFORM LEVEL UNITY. LET’S TALK SPECIFICS SOME MORE.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/21/cory-booker-bernie-sanders-2020-south-carolina-1116639
2020 ELECTIONS
Booker and Sanders part ways in MLK addresses
Booker spoke in aspirational terms about the civil rights leader and progress of African-Americans. Sanders bluntly called the president a racist.
By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL and HOLLY OTTERBEIN 01/21/2019 06:04 PM EST

PHOTOGRAPH -- From left: Sen. Cory Booker, South Carolina NAACP President Brenda Murphy and Sen. Bernie Sanders march in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Columbia, South Carolina, on Monday. | Sean Rayford/Getty Images

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sens. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders took two starkly different approaches Monday as they spoke to hundreds of mostly black rally-goers in the first Southern state to vote in 2020.

At Columbia’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally at the state capitol, Sanders talked explicitly about the racial wealth gap, black infant mortality rates and voter suppression among people of color. He also called President Donald Trump a “racist.”

“We have a president of the United States who has done something that no other president in modern history has done,” Sanders said. “What a president is supposed to do is to bring us together. And we have a president [who] intentionally, purposely, is trying to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by the country we came from, by our religion.”

Booker acknowledged that the country has a justice system that works better for the “rich and guilty” than the “poor and innocent.” But he largely echoed King’s message, speaking in more general terms about the importance of unity and having what he called “courageous empathy” and acting on dissatisfaction, a term King stressed in his 1967 “Where Do We Go From Here?” address.

“We live in a society that’s getting seduced by celebrity and forgets that significance is more important than celebrity, that purpose is more important than popularity, that we cannot be a nation that loves power more than it loves people,” Booker said. “We are dissatisfied. This is not a time for us to rest in our country. The work is not done.”

COUNTDOWN TO 2020

Their different appeals reflected how far along their potential campaigns are in this state, where 60 percent of Democratic primary voters are African-American. "Booker, who was billed as the main attraction of the rally, seemed to be trying to address a broader swath of the electorate than was represented in the crowd, speaking in more aspirational terms. Sanders was more blunt, declaring at one point: “It gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a president of the United States who is a racist.”

Democratic state Rep. Jerry Govan said Monday’s appearance was easier for Booker but more important for Sanders, who held more public events and is staying in the state longer than his Senate colleague.

“I think both of their messages struck a chord with the audience,” said Govan, chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus. “I think both of them were well received. I think it’s too early on to say whether there was a winner or a loser because I think both of them were winners based on the simple fact that they showed up. I know that I appreciated hearing from them both.”

If he runs for president for a second time, Sanders will need to do a better job winning over black voters in the state after his dismal performance here in 2016. He won only 26 percent of the vote in the South Carolina primary, a weakness that went on to be repeated across the South.

Sens. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders
2020 ELECTIONS

‘Heart of the Democratic Party’: Black voters in S.C. see first candidate push
By HOLLY OTTERBEIN and NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Neither Sanders nor Booker have said whether they are running for president. But Sanders addressed the question head on during a roundtable discussion. He recognized that some current candidates are friends of his, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

“This is not easy stuff. Is there a willingness to do this?” Sanders asked, sharing his mindset as he questions whether to mount another campaign for president. The crowd answered with a resounding “yes!”

Still, a presidential campaign is “tough stuff,” he said. “I’m gonna be going around the country and I’m gonna be talking to people and see whether there is that willingness because if we go forward … we’re gonna take on every powerful special interest in this country.”


COULD THIS BE ANOTHER “BRIGADOON?” WATCH AS THIS SIZEABLE MEDIEVAL TOWN IS DUG OUT FROM SAND DUNES IN ENGLAND.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJwCaCBhD4U
Time Team - Season 19, Episode 8 - Secrets of the Dunes (Kenfig, Bridgend)