MSNBC liberal Heidi Przybyla likely didn’t mean to endorse the border wall proposal but she made a better argument for it than perhaps even President Trump has up to now.
Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Pryzbyla said she had spoken to one law enforcement official in Texas, who said he’s most concerned about receiving more federal funding for agents to patrol the border than he is about erecting any new barriers.
[WATCH: Trump holds prime-time address over shutdown, border]
The person she spoke to was Sheriff Clint McDonald, chairman of the Texas Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, who has been saying this for years, not so much because he’s opposed to a physical border in Texas, but because it’s an issue beyond his purview: The Texas border is largely private land, and to build a structure on it would require the federal government to seize it. So, to deal with illegal crossings, he calls for more agents that can patrol the area instead.
Pryzbyla then went on to offer what she no doubt believed was an unassailable critique of the border wall concept.
“[McDonald] said that even if the president got the money for his wall, let’s say today, he would still be tied up in court for 10 to 15 years when it comes to Texas,” she said. “So what would happen is you’d get border wall in New Mexico, California, Arizona and you’d create an absolute disaster of a choke point in through Texas.”
She put forth no explanation for why a “choke point” would be a “disaster.” But what does she think legal points of entry into the U.S. are supposed to be? They are, by definition, choke points for people coming into the country. The proposed border wall has the explicit purpose of freeing up agents and other resources that can be directed to more vulnerable areas where there is no barrier or where crossings are more frequent.
It’s unclear whether Trump moved the needle his way on the border wall during his national address Tuesday night. Maybe he should have let Pryzbyla deliver it for him.
