President Donald Trump’s $8.6 billion request for border-wall construction in 2020 should be denied, and the funds should be redirected to schools and “rebuilding America,” say top Democratic leaders.

The Democrats’ statement comes one week after a top security official said the cross-border flow of job-seeking migrants threatens to reach 900,000 in 2019.

“Our country faces challenges about jobs for the future, this money would be better spent on rebuilding America, and on education and workforce development for jobs for the 21st Century,” said a statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Chuck Schumer. The statement also stated that Democrats will block funding even if Trump refuses to sign Congress’ budget:

President Trump hurt millions of Americans when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall. Congress refused to fund it and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will happen if he tries this again.

The Wall Street Journal reported March 10:

The $8.6 billion request for barrier funding—$5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and $3.6 billion for Defense Department military construction—would enable the Trump administration to complete its plans for new or replacement barriers for 722 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, an administration official said. Of that, 122 miles of barriers are complete or under construction, the official said. The southern border is about 1,991 miles in length overall. Separately, the proposal would also restore $3.6 billion in funding for military construction that the president tapped as part of his emergency declaration, the administration official said.

President Trump hurt millions of Americans when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall. Congress refused to fund it and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will happen if he tries this again. pic.twitter.com/inZ3zCioB0 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 10, 2019

But the Democrats’ call for more education spending is contradicted by their determination to preserve the inflow of uneducated migrants from Central Amerca. The migrants force down wages for many Democratic and Republican voters, drive up welfare spending and also reduce investors’ incentives to invest in American-made labor-saving technology.

But the cheap labor also spikes profits and stock-market gains by the Democratic Party’s donors.

On March 6, Homeland security chief Kirstjen Nielsen suggested Congress has imposed a policy of open borders on the United States. “The truth is that the politics and policies of open borders have failed the American people,” she tweeted.

Nielsen tweeted her message after enduring a hearing in which Democrats lashed at her for recording the catch and release of economic migrants. Despite the apprehensions, few of the economic migrants are being sent home because Congress has refused to pass the legal reforms which would allow border officials and judges to detain and repatriate the migrants.