April 9, 2017, The Hard Schell Report, Evanston, IL …..Let us hope that concerns over diplomatic fallout, the disruption to local communities and the enormous cost of this ill-conceived Trump idea, estimated to cost the US anywhere from $22 billion to $40 billion will give rise for GOP leaders and legislators to push back against Trump’s whimsy.
“There is no practical reason for a border wall, especially since illegal migration has been zero or negative for nearly nine years,” said Princeton University professor Douglas Massey, an expert on Mexican migration.”The number of border apprehensions is at its lowest level since 1971 and increasingly those apprehended are unaccompanied minors or members of family groups from Central America. The illegal migration of Mexicans is decidedly negative.”
Incremental improvements in border security can be achieved through better technology — surveillance drones, seismic sensors, lookout towers. (When asking a few Border Patrol agents in Texas what they most wanted, they replied, “Paved roads.”)
But Trump wants a wall because it suits his political formula that is partly dependent on white resentment and fear of nonwhites. According to Francis Wilkinson, who writes editorials on politics and U.S. domestic policy for Bloomberg View, “ Trump dwells on the “carnage” of American cities and dramatically and repeatedly overstates the rate of violent crime in the U.S. That’s why he overtly links crime to blacks. That’s why he announced last month that his administration would track and publicize crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, even though immigrants are less prone to commit crime than native-born citizens.”
Trump began his presidential campaign by labeling Mexicans “rapists.” Therefore, construction of Trump’s Folly provides endless opportunities both to exaggerate the threat posed by Mexicans, and to supply a remedy voters can see with their own eyes. If you’re not assaulted by a Mexican in future years, you’ll presumably know whom to thank.
In Trump’s mind, Build the Wall allowed him to conn voters to win the White House. Now it is high time for the American public to let this administration know, we will not buy into this folly. Most of us can agree, we’d prefer to see our money spent wisely on such things as scientific research, housing,education, arts & cultural programs. This long list could go on forever, until you reached the last thing on the list, which even then would not be Trump’s wall project. Building this useless wall between the US and its Mexican neighbors, who have lived peacefully along side our boarder for over 225 years is total madness.
I don’t think so,…No need, & certainly no desire!
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