President Trump had a recent Oval Office meeting with Democratic leaders from Congress, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi, in which he discussed border security and his infamous wall across the US and Mexico border. Trump, Schumer, and Pelosi argued back and forth on television quite contentiously, with Pelosi attempting to explain that border security can mean things other than building a wall. Trump is requesting $5 billion from Congress to fund border security and the wall, while Democrats are suggesting $1.3 billion for the border security fund. Pelosi and Schumer explained that they are trying to avoid a government shutdown due to lack of agreement on spending.
Trump claims that we need to increase border security, but the reality is that spending on border security increased under both the Bush and Obama administrations. The amount of border-crossers that were apprehended at the US border in 2000 is substantially more than the number currently being stopped. Trump claims that we need more money and more resources to stop these immigrants, but research has proven that there are in fact fewer immigrants to stop than there were in 2000. A recent Pew Research Center study found that there are less illegal immigrants living in the US than there were at the peak of illegal immigration in 2007.
The reality is that illegal immigration was a problem created by Trump's 2016 campaign. Yes, there has always been an immense amount of immigration into the United States, and a lot of people attempting to make it into America try to do so illegally. However, a lot of people move to America legally. Trump has generated this unreasonable picture of people trying to come to the United States with the intention of breaking our laws and hating American culture, which is just not the case.
What the concept of "the wall" fails to recognize is that America was built on the principle of creating a country where anyone can put in the work necessary to prosper and to support their family. Immigrants throughout American history have been trying to do just that, they are chasing a promise of American freedom and equality. Immigrants stand for American ideals more than those born in the United States do. These people are humble and hold themselves responsible for their own success, they are leaving somewhere dangerous in search of a life that protects them and their families.
Trump's promise to "make America great again" focuses on making America something it's never been before. The US would not exist in its modern-day capacity without immigrants, both to build our population and our workforce. It's been proven that immigrants, even today, help to expand the American economy, with immigrants and their children working hard to achieve upward mobility in American society. If we want America to grow and evolve, it needs immigrants to do so. Shifting to other ethnicities and cultures of immigrants just means that we are becoming a more diverse society. Beyond the logistics of funding and building the wall, it is unrealistic for Trump to expect that closing America off from the rest of the world is an appropriate way to lead one of the largest world powers.
