Donald Trump's Idea for a Border Wall is a Good Idea

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your concerns about the Trump wall. I will analyze your argument point-by-point. 1. Expenses and the American Economy Your first point was as follows: "First, let's assume that the US tried to pay for this wall." This is a valid point if the proposal actually considered the United States funding this expenditure. The Trump plan [1], as sourced previously, indicated that the wall will be built by Mexico. You then mentioned the debt of the country by stating "the US is already in the trillions in debt". Again, as stated in the Trump Plan [2], the United States debt or increased taxation is not a concern when factoring the cost of the wall. It will not be funded on United States currency. 2. Relations with Mexico According to the State Department you cited, "the US has fairly friendly ties with Mexico" . Louise Shelley contends that transnational organized crime has been a serious problem which undermines the integrity of individual countries [3]. She further assesses the need to develop a "coordinated" policy which addresses the concerns of transnational criminality [4]. The United States has assisted Mexico with funding, supplies and intelligence to thwart the massive drug cartels in Mexico [5]. How has Mexico responded to the threats posed by people of this country? According to a Business Insider report, Mexico"s weak government, corrupt judicial system and lack of infrastructure makes it impossible to combat the cartels as long as the United States drug demand exists [6]. Mexico would have friendly ties with the United States when their cartels send drugs over the borders, the cartel brings the money back to their economy and the United States funds Mexico to control their cartels while combatting the drug problems in this country. The State Department may consider this friendly, but this relationship seems to be one-sided which the benefits being reaped by Mexico. The Trump wall would be the first step towards being an ally to Mexico by reducing the strength of the cartel. Your next point was forcing Mexico to build the wall would be "bad manners". The White House released a fact sheet which indicated "Mexican drug trafficking organizations have been operating on public lands in the U.S. to cultivate marijuana, with serious consequences for the environment and public safety. Propane tanks and other trash litter park lands from California to Tennessee." [7] Are these the bad manners that we are speaking of? Or maybe it is the 40,393 people who died from drug-induced causes which do not reflect the homicides related to drug trafficking [8]. With friends like this who needs North Korea! I will not provide a dissent on the need for cooperation between both nations. We have provided resources, funded the current initial inadequate wall and funded the border patrol. What has Mexico done so far? If they are serious about stopping illegal drugs and illegal immigrants from entering this country, then they should fund this expenditure. If it would assist in the development, they could even build the wall on their side of the border. This would then provide some work for a population who seeks entry into this country illegally for employment purposes. Your next point was that this would anger Mexico. We have millions of illegal immigrants in this country, and billions of dollars of illegal drugs enter this country every year. The United States tax payers are angry at Mexico. What have they done to stop this activity? When they respect us, then we will respect them. We have made efforts to assist them with the border, and we are given the same consideration from them. You then mentioned Mexico burning effigies of Trump. You failed to mention that they burned Obama effigies as well [9]. I am sure this was an oversight, but it shows the level of disrespect Mexico has for the United States President and *our* country. The Mexican President does not have to build the wall. He is absolutely correct, and we should expect him to build it; however, he will fund the Trump Wall [10]. 3.Immigrants and the Economy I understand that you do not condone illegal immigrants in our country. Most law abiding citizens would not. You did make an argument that we do need to accept that our economy functions because of them. You sidestepped this fallacy quickly, and digressed to a position that they are important to the economy. So are illegal drugs, prostitution, catastrophic events and disease, but that does not mean that this is a positive to the economy. If you work construction, then you are not upset when the hurricane did not ravage your community this year. If we cure all diseases, we will not be upset because of the potential money that was lost in the economy. So why should we be concern with individuals who enter the country illegally. If you have cancer you do not keep it or ignore it as a problem; rather, you seek treatment for the disease. Our nation is resourceful and adaptive" we can even get legal workers to replace them. For every illegal immigrant who enters there is an immigrant willing to migrate legally. Your argument on the living conditions in the country, and their willingness to work is not a concern to the United States. We have a certain amount of people who can enter the country legally. Are the rights of the individual who enters illegally worth more than those who enter legally? Tell that to the Nigerian who applies legally, and is accepted through a lottery system. If they are not selected, then they will likely die well before their time. How about the Mexican who is not selected to enter legally? Does that give him the right to enter our country illegally? If corporations cannot get legal workers to employ willing to work for the wages, then capitalism and economics indicates that they will have to pay more to the employee. Maybe then we would not have riots over raising minimum wages. 4. More Problems than Solutions You are correct that the wall will take time. It is a construction project. I have been driving on a road that is under construction for the past three years. How do I still get to work? This is a normal problem which can be supplemented by additional resources until completion. I am not going to entertain specifics such as how many gates, the material it is made of or if the state flag or American flag will be on it. That is irrelevant towards the argument. You would not need more guards; conversely, less guards would be needed if the wall would be constructed to actually stop individuals from crossing. Technology has allowed for such events to actually become reality. Thank you again for the opportunity to provide a dissent to your opinion. Sources [1] https://www.donaldjtrump.com... [2] ibid. [3] Shelley, Louise. (1995). Transnational Organized Crime: An Imminent Threat to the Nation-State? Journal of International Affairs, 48.n2.p463-489. [4] ibid. [5] Council of Foreign Relations. (2005). Mexico"s Drug War. http://www.cfr.org.... [6] Wyler, G. (2011). How Mexico Can Stop Losing the Drug War. Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com.... [7] Officer of National Drug Control Policy (2014). Consequences of Illicit Drug Use in America. https://www.whitehouse.gov.... [8] ibid. [9] http://wqad.com.... [10] https://www.donaldjtrump.com...