Farkas 1

Marko Farkas

Ms. Jorgensen

English 10 H

02 May 2019

The Issue With The Wall

One of the most controversial topics surrounding president Trump’s campaign is the wall.

This issue, being debated to this day since 2016, has pulled America apart. Many support the

wall because it would “make us safer” and “would make America great again.” This is not the

case, as the issues that plague America and hinder its growth will not be eliminated by spending

billions on technology from before 2000 B.C. It won’t stop immigration either, another hot topic

of Trump’s presidency. Those who support it also do not account for the financial strain this

would have on America. The wall is outdated, useless, and would prove itself to be a failure and

a waste of valuable resources when complete.

The first issue, illegal immigration, has been a constantly debated, on-off issue during the

last three years of Trump’s presidency. One of the reasons he used, with many people blindly

believing, is that it would stop illegal immigrants from coming into America. Another of his

flawed reasons was immigration, which contributes to America’s diversity, culture, and

economy, saying that “When Mexico is sending its people, they’re not sending their best…

They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume are good

people” (Trump). Not only is this racist, while generalizing millions of innocent, hard working

people, it is unimaginably incorrect. Illegal immigration is a different subject than drug

trafficking, and illegal immigrants who are coming to America for a shot at a better life should
 Farkas 2

be welcomed (after all, America was founded by trespassing on other’s land to find better lives

from Britain). These illegal immigrants rarely cross the border illegally, and best summarized by

Philip Bump as “Two-thirds of those living in the United States illegally have been here for at

least a decade” (Bump 1). Most have been here with overstayed visas, not crossing the border,

and have been helping the economy out drastically. Over 40% of immigration occurs through air

travel in 2015, with numbers rising drastically since then and without account for sea travel.

Spending billions on a long slab of concrete will not stop the “epidemic” which plagues

America.

Another issue with Trump’s wall is how dependent America is on illegal immigrants,

with nobody acknowledging their importance to the economy. Removing these people, who are

striving for the same thing as our founding fathers, would prove to be detrimental to the

economy. Sylvester L. Salcedo shows the importance of immigrants to even everyday life,

stating that “Just imagine every restaurant, farm, house cleaning, child/elderly care, roofing and

landscaping/snow removal services in Cheshire or in my hometown of Orange without the help

of the unacknowledged, underpaid “undocumented labor” services. Would we save more

money/taxes and really be safer because we will spend even more tax dollars to build the

Hoffman-Trump wall” (Salcedo). Without illegal immigrants, many jobs will be left open, ones

Americans are unwilling to do, or for much higher prices. Immigration is beneficial for the

economy, and it is also how America becomes more diverse and culturally tuned. No one would

appreciate being sent away while trying to find a better life, running from poverty or war.

Another of the many arguments that can be made against the wall is that it isn’t

economically viable and severely outdated. The fact that millions of Americans who went
 Farkas 3

through modern education seriously consider building a piece of technology from past the 1700s

is extremely saddening. Dana Milbank elaborates on the impotence of the wall, stating that “If

the plan is to bet the United States’ national security on the siege-warfare technology of the

ancient and medieval worlds, which is what a wall does, then our strategy has to be much more

Byzantine” (Milbank 1). The Chinese used a wall to keep Mongols and others out... in 1644. It

didn’t even work against the threat and now it is merely but tourist attraction, bringing outsiders

in, which is the opposite of what they wanted, and the opposite of what Trump wants. The Berlin

Wall is another example of a failed idea that was a waste of resources; history tends to repeat

itself. With the technology humanity has today, many will only find the wall to be a joke. It is a

colossal waste of time, energy, material, and money, all of which can be better spent elsewhere.

In conclusion, Trump’s wall, the center of his campaign and presidency, is a terrible joke.

It is laughably outdated, financially unviable, and a waste of resources. The “issue of

immigration” will not be solved using methods from 2038 B.C, being invented before the wheel.

Immigration should not be such a heavily focused on issue, as it diversifies America, helps the

economy and the consumer, and brings good things in general. The problems that come from the

miniscule amount of bad illegals won’t be solved by a wall either, as firstly, not all of them cross

the border, and secondly, people adapt, and they will find new ways. The ability to adapt will

render the wall useless in years after construction. Building the wall will serve only to hinder

growth and set America back.

 Farkas 4

Works Cited

“An Argument against the Wall.” ​The CT Mirror​, 22 Jan. 2019,

ctmirror.org/category/ct-viewpoints/an-argument-against-the-wall/.

Bump, Philip. “Trump's Arguments about the Wall Are Mostly Exaggerated or False.” ​The

Washington Post​, WP Company, 27 Dec. 2018,

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/27/trumps-arguments-about-wall-are-mostly-

exaggerated-or-false/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3a014ad071bb.

Coaston, Jane. “Sarah Sanders's Strangely Unconservative Argument for the Wall.” ​Vox,​ Vox, 9

Jan. 2019,

www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/9/18175451/sanders-border-wall-conservative-

gop-trump-argument.

Milbank, Dana. “Trump's Wall Isn't Evil. It's Medieval.” ​The Washington Post​, WP Company, 9

Jan. 2019,

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-wall-isnt-evil-its-medieval/2019/01/09/80dfa

20a-1458-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.309996106914.

Miller, Ken. “A Simple Data Analysis Disproves the Argument for Building a Border Wall.”

TechCrunch,​ TechCrunch, 27 Jan. 2019,

techcrunch.com/2019/01/27/a-simple-data-analysis-disproves-the-argument-for-building-

a-border-wall/.