Last updated on August 21, 2020
On January 25, 2017, President Trump passed Executive Order 13767. “The order directs a wall, colloquially called the Trump wall, to be built along with the Mexico–United States border.”
First, illegal immigration is a rising issue that needs to be addressed by both the Senate and the House. Ethan Kim wrote an article on illegal immigration in the past.
Now, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign ensured that a wall will be built on the US/Mexico border in efforts to mitigate the amount of illegal immigration.
According to the Washington Examiner, 42% of Americans support a wall. Maintaining American safety from foreign powers and threats is a bipartisan idea. CBS recorded 60% don’t support the wall. However, the major problem is the actual cost of the wall.
From a financial standpoint, building the wall is not cost-effective. According to the Trump administration, the cost of building the wall totals at 10 billion dollars. According to MSNBC, the wall is estimated to be 21.6 billion dollars. The Washington Post estimated the wall to be 67 billion dollars for all 2,000 miles of the border.
Furthermore, in an article by Forbes, Donald Trump’s claimed wealth is 3.1 billion, only a fraction of the cost for the wall. If it hasn’t become apparent that the price of the wall is not in the grasp of the US, NPR released the US debt as of February 2019, “The U.S. government’s public debt is now more than $22 trillion — the highest it has ever been.
The Treasury Department data comes as tax revenue has fallen and federal spending continues to rise.’” Therefore, the argument has deviated from the practicality of the wall and has inclined toward a debate on whether or not the wall should be built.
In regard to the cost of the wall it poses as an obstacle that makes Donald Trump’s goal simply unachievable. Even if Mexico is to pay for the wall like President Trump claims, it would be an even further goal to reach.
Mexico is in a state of disarray and the former president Enrique Peña Nieta freely spent government money. A source from El Universal shows how he spent 834,000 USD(16,000,000 MXN) on haute cuisine. It was evident that Mexico was not in a state to manage themselves, let alone ours.
Even with Mexico’s newly elected president, recuperating from a corrupt government that set Mexico on its knees is a formidable task.
Neither side is financially valid to make the wall a reality. The consideration of the cost of the wall is the key factor when deciding whether to follow through or not.
However, if we blind ourselves to the reality that it would be financially impossible to create this, we become ignorant.
I personally support the idea of tightening security around the border to keep America safe but investing billions of dollars to do so will damage the economy. The money that will be put to build a fictional wall can be beneficial to issues prevalent within our country.
Let’s face it, illegal immigration is a problem. Barack Obama said it was as an Illinois senator, Nancy Pelosi said so as the Speaker of the House, and even the Clintons said it was on their own platform. Illegal immigration is rising every single day, and we must solve it, but building a wall is not the answer.
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