President Trump declared a national emergency to build the border wall. A wall that Congress did not agree to fund and the majority of the American public does not support.
While the declaration of a national emergency is something other presidents did in the past, this time it's in defiance of the will of Congress. Our founding fathers created this system of government to provide checks and balances, and a national emergency should not be used simply to bypass Congress, or in non-emergency situations.
Nothing major has happened recently to make the immigration problem an emergency now. The only thing that happened is a change in this administration's policy that has impacted families and children more than it helped prevent any dangers from immigrants entering the country illegally.
But if there were genuinely a national emergency as the president is saying, why would he himself say that this move was not necessary?
"I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster," Trump said. "I just want to get it done faster, that's all." Via NY Times.
The idea of building a wall from the start seems impractical and will cost much more than Trump is asking for. It is more of a symbolic thing than an actual solution.
A statistician broke down the numbers on the cost of building a wall along the nearly 2000 mile border between the U.S. and Mexico. She concluded that it would cost $25 billion! This doesn't include the cost to maintain it.
History demonstrates that walls are not a good solution. Just remember the Berlin Wall, or to go further back The Great Wall of China. And if Trump and his supporters say this wall would be more technologically advanced, it would cost even more.
The idea of building a wall goes against American principles of being a safe place for victims of war and persecution. Just read what's written on the Statue of Liberty and you'll see that this wall doesn't represent American values. We are a country of immigrants. Building a wall and vilifying immigrants in the way that Trump and his supporters are doing is un-American in my opinion.
I think all Americans can agree that the immigration system needs improvement and that we need border security, but a wall is not the solution. Facts say that the majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. came in legally. Additionally, most of the drugs that are smuggled into the U.S. come through legal ports of entry. So, this wall will not fix the main problem. And arguably will not fix anything.
Fixing the immigration system is not an easy task and a solution has eluded us for years. We need independent experts that can come up with real solutions, not partisan policies that are not backed up with facts and there's zero evidence that they will actually fix the system or any part of it.
