Rachel Schmieder is a Dual Track student. She is both a senior at Franklin-Simpson High School and a freshman at Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Franklin Center. She is considering a career in journalism.
Donald Trump stands confidently on stage at nearly every Republican debate and repeats with unwavering confidence: “We’re going to build a wall. It’s going to be a great wall and Mexico is going to pay for it.” When Americans were first informed of Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, there was an immediate reaction of shock.
“The land of the free” is a phrase often used to describe the great country of America. But how free can America be if the only way to achieve legal immigration is by building a massive wall? In a recent CNN interview, Donald Trump referred to the people coming into America illegally as Mexican immigrants as “rapists and killers.” When questioned on his rash criticism, Trump justified his comment by saying, “I don’t think it’s a small percentage, it’s not Mexicans necessarily, they’re coming from all over.”
From the mind of a simple lifetime businessman the wall proposition makes a lot of sense. Donald Trump emphasizes repeatedly how simple his plan is: build a wall, make them pay for it, and keep the bad guys out. But from the standpoint of anyone with any knowledge of politics and economy, the idea is absolutely ridiculous.
The wall will not only cost billions of dollars but will also create unneeded animosity between us and a neighboring country. Not only does the wall cost big bucks, but the wall goes against everything we built this country for. America was built to be a beacon of hope for those who wanted a better life.
Trump not only plans to build a multi-billion dollar wall but also plans to transport all current illegal Mexicans back to their home country. This, too, will cost a ridiculous amount of money and time. Trump says the wall he builds will help America financially. But in reality the wall will only push America further into debt.
Although the cost of Trump’s wall is astronomical, it is not the only reason why Americans should think twice before supporting this idea. Asking Mexico to pay to build the wall is like asking a fish to fly. The Mexican people struggle constantly with poverty, and no matter what Trump argues, the cost is too high for a country whose major source of income comes from remittances sent from families who came to America. So, Trump not only wants to build a huge wall that will supposedly be funded by Mexico, but also cut Mexico off from one of its main sources of income.
Regardless, immigration reform is definitely necessary in America. Especially with the recent terrorist attacks taking place all around the world. Instead of building a wall, America should keep better record of immigrants coming in on work visas. Many people who come to America on work visas stay even after their visas have expired.
People that are found paying the Mexican people less than minimum wage to work under the table should be arrested. The Mexican people are so afraid of being sent back to their own country they are willing to do the hardest jobs in the country, for less than they deserve. We as a country should find a way to help these people gain legal citizenship, without having to go back to Mexico, so long as the Mexican people are in good standing with the law. If we send all the Mexicans back to Mexico, we are losing a huge portion of our work force.
America could also create more jobs by hiring people to better and more efficiently secure our borders. This alternative would cost money indeed, but would cost nowhere near the amount of money to build a 2,000-mile long wall. A man-made wall stretching entirely across the Mexican-American border would not stop the illegal immigrants from coming into America, but instead provoke people to find new ways to enter illegally.
People that are truly desperate to come into America will find different ways to come and could even potentially harm themselves in the process. No man-made structure will keep someone who is desperate, out.
Although the drug cartel taking place at the southern American border is a huge problem, Trump has a talent for lumping large groups together and persecuting them all as one, instead of remembering the people who came into America simply to have a better life.
There is hardly any room to deny Trump’s success as a businessman. Starting with a small business loan from his father, Trump built an entire corporation which employs many people of different ethnicities. However, Trump has always had the power to walk to the beat of his own drum, without having anyone to answer to. But if somehow the wall continues to be a goal of Trump’s, he will have to answer to the American people who believe it to be a huge expense rather than a huge benefit.