Building border walls is not a new concept. Walls have been around as early as 10th century BCE when the first city wall was built around Jericho. These walls were built as the first line of defense in protecting its citizens from foreign invaders.
(Photo from imgur.com)
There was also the Hadrian Wall in AD 122, built to close off Britain from barbarians.
(Photo from History.com)
Arguably the most famous of them all is the Great Wall of China. Started during the 7th century, it took more than 2,500 years to finish. That’s a fairly long time. Generations have come and gone without seeing the wall in its complete glory. It was also reported that around 1 million workers died during the construction process. It was for this reason that besides being considered as the longest wall, it has also been referred to as the “longest cemetery in the world”.
(Photo from The Independent)
Then there was the infamous Berlin Wall, constructed on August 12, 1961. What makes it different from the previous three is that its aim was not to protect Berlin from foreigners, but to prevent citizens living in Soviet-controlled East Germany from defecting to West Germany. Even so, the wall did not stop everyone from trying to escape. Many still tried, some survived, but most have been gunned down — their bodies lay as reminders of what would happen if citizens defected.
(Photo from HowStuffWorks.com)
The southern border wall was planned by Trump to act as a barrier between Mexico and the United States. Using his own words, it will be built in order to stop “Invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs.” With how the wall is marketed to the public, it would seem that it is a defensive move — to protect America from foreigners in the same way that the historical walls did.
(Photo from Sara Sanders)
However, the people he is trying to “protect” the United States from are not barbarians, not foreigners planning to invade the United States, and definitely not the armies of other countries. They are immigrants. Let’s face it, if they were planning to invade, it would be a suicide mission. Everybody knows that the military power of the US is the strongest of all countries. Nobody would want to invade America unless they had a death wish.
Trump’s wall is estimated to cost $8 billion. No matter which angle we look at it, that is a big amount of money. Since the US has that much money in the first place, why can’t it be used to improve healthcare and education? Eradicate poverty? When you eradicate poverty, you lessen the crime rate. That’s a win-win. Instead, it will be used to build a wall.
Another point to consider is that the wall will be bad for the economy. Not only the US economy, but also the economies of other countries who trade with the US goods, but especially those who import cheap labor. Trump said the immigrants are hurting the economy, but statistics show that the US economy is actually growing. According to Citi Global Perspectives and Solutions, the immigrants are directly responsible for ⅔ of the economic growth. The migrants go to the US to find more job opportunities that pay better compared to the countries they were from. With Trump’s immigration policies, migrants will be afraid of moving to the US, and predictably, the economy will be hurt in the process.
Trump said that the wall can help improve the security of America and the safety of American citizens. However, data shows more Americans have been killed by right-wing extremists than by Islamist terrorists. The roadmap to peace is connection with others, not separation from them. That only evokes fear, which produces distrust, and paves the way for violence. The old adage still stands, after all. Instead of building walls, we should put more effort into building bridges.
To end this, I’ll leave you with three comic strips (thanks, Google) to contemplate on:
Sources and Further Reading
- Associated Press. (2019). WATCH: Trump declares national emergency to build border wall. In PBS. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-hell-sign-national-emergency
- Making Sen$e. (2018, Nov. 2). 4 myths about how immigrants affect the U.S. economy. In PBS. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/4-myths-about-how-immigrants-affect-the-u-s-economy
- New America. (2015, June 24). Report: More Americans Have been Killed by White Supremacists Than Muslim Extremists Since 9/11. In New America. Retrieved from https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/future-war/in-the-news/report-more-americans-have-been-killed-by-white-supremacists-than-muslim-extremists-since-911/
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