And Now, Boiling It Down To The Key Issues . . .

Millions of Americans, both Republican and Democrat, voted for President Donald J. Trump to reverse decades of failure by Washington and fix America’s broken immigration system.  With that election, the American people sent a message that they are tired of politicians talking one way about our border and then acting another. President Trump will keep his promise. He has offered a strong, common-sense proposal to stop gang members, drug smugglers, and human traffickers from exploiting our Southern border. It’s a goal most Democrats claim to share. But when the Administration requested $5.7 billion—about .01 percent of the 2018 Federal budget—for construction of a border wall, Democrats walked away. No more political games. It’s time to come together and make a deal.

Watch: “CBP and DHS are committed to both our border security mission, as well as our humanitarian mission. Mr. President, Senators, we couldn't do it without your support."

Democrats say they want border security  This week, Democratic leaders exposed their indifference and denial when they called the humanitarian and security crisis at our border “a manufactured crisis.” It turns out many Democrats, including President Obama, don’t agree.  The stories of suffering are real, as President Trump told Americans on Tuesday night. Each week, 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone—90 percent of which floods across our Southern border. The gaps in our security leave a pathway for drug cartels and human traffickers, who prey on vulnerable migrants and their children. Open borders empower criminals, too. In California, an Air Force veteran was raped and brutally murdered by an illegal alien with a long criminal history. In Maryland, MS-13 gang members who arrived in our country as unaccompanied minors were charged with viciously stabbing a 16-year-old girl last year. These aren’t isolated crimes. In the last two years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested more than a quarter-million aliens with criminal records—including those charged with or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 murders. To their credit, rank-and-file Democrats have started breaking with their leaders, admitting that physical barriers are needed. “I don’t understand [Speaker Nancy Pelosi] saying it’s ‘immoral,’” Sen. Angus King (I-ME) says. “Certainly you need barriers and we support barriers,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) explains. Your voice matters. Washington is starting to listen. “If I am getting comments and contact from my constituents expressing concern that the Democrats are not prioritizing security, then I think we can do better,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) says. In case you missed it: President Trump addresses the Nation.

Setting the record straight   With the mainstream media often acting like Democratic surrogates instead of objective watchdogs, a lot of misinformation is spreading about border security and the current Government shutdown. Senior Administration officials have been working hard to correct the record:  Criminals and terrorists can and do exploit our porous border. “The threat is real,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says—the number of individuals on the terror watchlist encountered at our Southern border has increased over the last two years. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says using a physical barrier to protect our border is “immoral.” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is pushing for clarity: “So does Pelosi want to tear down the hundreds of miles of barrier that already exist and many Democrats voted for?” Most important, the crisis on the border is real. Four-in-five Americans agree.

4 things the West Wing is reading today    1. “There is a humanitarian and security crisis at our southwest border. It is getting worse, and a “status quo” response from Congress — inadequate authorities, insufficient funds and indifference to the chaos — will not cut it.”  Read more: Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen in USA Today 2. Mark Morgan, a Border Patrol chief under former President Obama, “said he’s most frustrated by how children are brought into the country illegally under perilous conditions because coyotes exploit vulnerabilities at the border . . . ‘I don’t understand why anyone would be against developing a process that stops that from happening.’” Read more: Obama Border Patrol chief: ‘Stay the course’ on the border wall 3. Politicians “are not the ones that are investigating the crimes. They are not the ones out here when it’s 120 degrees, processing a crime scene where 14 people were left to die in the desert,” says Leon Wilmot, Sheriff in Yuma County, Arizona. Read more: Sheriff: Border Fence Helped Cut Crime in Yuma by 91 Percent 4. “Most important, Pelosi and Schumer failed to use the one word that millions of Americans were longing to hear — compromise. But Trump did. That is why the president won the night,” Marc Thiessen of the American Enterprise Institute writes. Read more: Trump won the night. Schumer and Pelosi lost.