The wall between U.S. and Mexico
Children in Friendship Park in San Diego speaks with children through fence separating Mexico and the United States.
November 15, 2017
The promise of building a wall between the U.S and Mexico, which was a key campaign promise of President Trump, remains a confusing task.
U.S shares a land border of more than 3000 km with Mexico.
Illegal immigration, illegal trade of drugs and firearms and the shooting of U.S diplomatic vehicle by Mexican Federal Police agents have been some of the causes of differences between the two countries.
The two countries have had close diplomatic economic ties since the rule of Mexican President Porifirio Diaz.
Mexico is the third largest trading partner of U.S. according to the U.S. Office of Trade Representatives.
Mexico is also one of the fastest-growing regions of origin for international students in U.S.
Donald Trump has pointed to illegal immigration, illegal trade of drugs and firearms and alleged “bad hombres” that need to be taken care of on the border and while there have been differences between the two countries with regard to some border conflicts-much of the campaign rhetoric appears to be overblown.
An August 25, Washington Post article reports that most Americans-Trump’s base excluded-don’t want the wall, don’t think the wall will happen, don’t think Congress will pay for the wall and obviously, don’t think Mexico’s going to pay for it either.
Litthzia Angeles, a student from Scottsdale Community College discussed the building of the wall with Northeast Valley News.
“I don’t think you should do it because the it causes the taxpayers billions of dollars which can be used for education, healthcare and other more important stuffs and not build a wall”, said Angeles.
According to the New York Times, Laura Paterson, an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, who was on the staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said that it is hard to understand the strategic value of this wall in terms of protecting U.S. citizens and illegal activity.
According to the Guardian, President Donald Trump during his inauguration speech said that protection will bring great prosperity and strength.
“We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.”, said Trump.
Though Trump highlighted the creation of the wall as a central promise of his campaign, later this year he scaled back significantly.
“You don’t need 2,000 miles of wall because you have a lot of natural barriers,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One during his flight to Paris in July.
Later in August, the Department of Homeland Security took a giant lead toward building the wall. Four companies were assigned to build the prototypes of the wall in San Diego area.
Beidhy Reyes is from Mexico and is currently studying at Scottsdale Community College Reyes doesn’t believe the wall will deter people from seeking a better like in the U.S.
“Building a tall wall is not gonna stop anyone. When Mexican people want to succeed in life, they will find a way. It is not just the Mexicans; it is anyone in general,” Beidhy said. “If you have a goal and you want to achieve it, you will do anything to accomplish it because your dreams are bigger than the wall.”
