Montini: Trump’s ransom demand: $12,500 per ‘dreamer’

EJ Montini: In order to get his wall, the president wants you and I to pay $12,500 per dream to set them free. Weird, right?

EJ Montini
The Republic | azcentral.com
The wall

It’s this simple: “Dreamers” for a wall.

There are lots of plans, but none of them matters.

Republicans acquiescing to Trump have a plan. Republican’s NOT caving in to Trump have a plan. Democrats have a plan. Our own Sen. John McCain has a plan. Our own Sen. Jeff Flake has a plan.

No plan matters but Trump's plan

And while a number of these plans provide positive and even common sense (or close to it) solutions to dealing with border security concerns and also with the young recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program – the dreamers – none of them matters.

What matters is what President Donald Trump wants.

And he wants a wall.

Trump began his presidential campaign pledging to build a wall between Mexico and the United States that Mexico will pay for. (But Mexico won't.)

Mexico won't pay, so you will

Now, he wants you and I to pay for it, to the tune of $25 billion.

The number of good, useful and necessary things that could be done for the nation with $25 billion is beyond the limits of anyone’s imagination.

Health care. Roads. Bridges. Military needs. Education. It goes on and on and on.

But … Trump wants a wall.

Just about all of the Republicans in the Senate are afraid of what might happen to them come election time if they do not give Trump that wall.

A simple trade off

So, while the debate in the Senate over immigration this week will feature lots of different arguments, and lots of different plans, and lots and lots and lots of political posturing, it will boil down to one simple trade off:

Dreamers for a wall.

It is a old-fashioned ransom.

What’s that work out to per dreamer?

Well, there are roughly 2 million dreamers in the U.S. For all them to stay here and put them on a path to citizenship Trump wants $25 billion.

What that amounts to, then, is that U.S. taxpayers will pay a ransom of $12,500 for the release and the freedom of each dreamer.

Ironic, isn’t it?

All those people who voted for Trump because they wanted all non-citizen residents kicked out of the country will be shelling out $12,500 per dreamer to KEEP them here.

And they will somehow convince themselves (because Trump will tell them) that they won.

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