How effective is a wall at keeping out a country’s enemies?
During the race for the 2016 election, one of the main topics on everyone’s minds was immigration and how we were going to control whatever issue was present within the topic. One solution brought up by President Donald J. Trump during his campaign was a wall that stretched along the border between America and Mexico.
Another wall that was used to keep out people from another country was the Great Wall of China. The idea of the Great Wall was conceived by the emperor of the Qin Dynasty (259-210 B.C.), but it was not finished completely until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) took power. This makes it one of the most extensive construction projects in history.
Even though Trump’s wall won’t take long to build, what really is in question is the effectiveness of the wall. Trump’s wall will be built to keep out the Mexicans, whereas the Great Wall of China was built in defense against the Huns.
There were 5.8 million unauthorized Mexicans in the U.S. in 2014 compared to 2009 where the total was 6.4 million, according to the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan fact tank located in Washington, D.C.
Even though the number of Mexican immigrants is higher than the percentage of illegal immigrants from other countries, the number of immigrants from Mexico is decreasing, while the number of immigrants from elsewhere is increasing. What would Trump’s wall do to stop them?
During the time that China was at war with the Huns, the wall was constructed so it connected already existing castles and fortresses, making it extremely successful in defense against the Huns, according to Beijing Attractions, an online encyclopedia dedicated to presenting Chinese culture and history.
Since the Great Wall took so long to build and rebuild, it’s nearly impossible to determine how much it cost to build. On the other hand, Trump’s wall is an imminent project, so it is easier calculate the costs.
The cost for the wall is estimated to be as high as $16 million per mile. This means that the wall could cost anywhere between $15 billion to $25 billion, according to CNBC, a provider of business news and real-time financial market coverage based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
In the end, since we can look into history and see how effective the Great Wall of China was, it’s hard to make a decision as to whether or not Trump’s wall will be as effective, considering it hasn’t even started to be built. The two walls were built for similar purposes, but they were built for a different time and reason.
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