President Donald Trump's call for a wall along the Mexican border and further enforcement will allow the government to give Border Patrol officials the tools they need to do their job, Rep. Darrell Issa commented Wednesday.
"We can get out of his way," the California Republican told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" of Congress' role moving forward. "For more than a decade, the Border Patrol has asked us to give them the tools to do the job, to be able to do the job with both the wall and the appointment of new U.S. attorneys that will punish 'coyotes,' the people who traffic human beings."
But building a wall is just one part of the enhanced enforcement that's needed to secure the border, said Issa.
"In the case of the San Diego region, we were one of the areas that proved the concept that you could do more with less Border Patrol people," said Issa. "But when you go along the Mexican border, there are areas in which essentially anybody could walk across the border, and by the time the Border Patrol can get to them, they are in the United States, and then you have a huge obligation before you can return them to the country of their origin."
Meanwhile, one in three Californians recently said in a survey that they'd rather secede than to be governed under Trump, but Issa said there is more the president can do to sway the state to his side.
"The fact is, California enjoys a comparatively good economy relative to its bad decisions," said Issa. "But that's starting to change because as you know we have the highest taxes, highest income taxes in the country at 13.3 percent, and we are running a deficit ... at the same time, you're right, one in three are Californians are so strident, they would rather fail than be part of a national movement."
Issa on Wednesday was to introduce a bill calling for harmonizing the taxes of military spouses who live in separate states. The matter is easily solved through payroll adjustments, said Issa, and if all states would do it, there would be no need for federal action.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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