Why does Trump want to Build US-Mexico Border Wall?
Since assuming the Presidency of the United States, Donald Trump has been devising ways to keep illegal immigrants out of the country. A rather innovative one is to build a US-Mexico border wall, which would prohibit illegal immigrants from entering the country.
Donald Trump has been quite critical of the Mexican and Central American immigrants pouring into the United States. Thus, at a speech that he delivered at the Trump Tower in New York, he was quite candid about what he thought of the Mexican immigrants. His grouse is that Mexicans crossing the border were bringing crime and drugs to the United States and hence should be kept out of the country. They also take up American jobs adding to the employment problem in the country. Therefore, the solution to these problems, according to Trump, is to build a wall that would prohibit immigrants from entering the country in an unauthorized process.
A large number of Mexicans dream about immigrating to the United States and starting a new and better life. Many of these people are illegal immigrants who risk their lives crossing the border. As per estimates, there are six million illegal Mexican immigrants in the US. But lately, Mexicans have found a new roadblock, because of the new immigration policies the Trump administration.
The construction of the 1,000-mile-long US-Mexico Border Wall is a long-drawn process and would cost quite a few billion dollars. Trump estimated the wall to cost approximately $10 B. Still, in January 2018, the Trump administration stated that to build the initial phase of the wall, an estimated $18B would be required over the next ten years. However, the total cost for Trump’s Wall has increased. The President also states that the United States will not ‘food the bill’ for the wall and that Mexico will pay for it. Mexico has not agreed to this and dismisses the idea.
Nevertheless, Trump seems to be adamant about his wall as the authorities have tested eight prototypes of the wall close to the San Diego border. The height of the prototypes ranges from 18 feet to 30 feet. The wall will not be a long stretch of concrete but will be a mixture of fencing and wall.
The Mexican-US border is not wholly devoid of a barrier. Along much of the western portion of the border is a 653 miles long barrier that includes parts of California, New Mexico, and Arizona. These barriers are a combination of barbed wire, iron fencing, and vehicle barriers.
With the Mexican government refusing to fund the wall, Trump has no option but to turn towards the US taxpayers. In his latest development, Trump has threatened to shut down the government if extra money is not provided by Congress to construct the US-Mexico Border Wall.
Meanwhile, how effective of a deterrent the wall would be at stopping illegal border crossings is still hotly debated.
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