Question

Impractical Wall

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Institution

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The Impractical Wall

The United States is sensitive about its borders and has put effort to ensure that a well-established border security system is in place. After the 9/11 attack by terrorists, the U.S. became prompted to reinforce its border protection to ensure that acts of terrorism do not take place again in the country. The security of the border in the country is achieved by the United States border patrol to prevent the entry of terrorists, illegal persons, and weapons into the country (Miller & Nevins, 2017). The efforts are also supposed to prevent human trafficking to and from the country. For several decades even before the 9/11 attack, the issue of border security has been in the limelight. One current debate that prevails up to date is the U.S. – Mexico Border dispute. After becoming the president of the U.S., Donald Trump reemphasized his earlier promise to initiate the building of the wall between the two countries (Miller & Nevins, 2017). The assertion attracted mixed reactions from critiques with some supporting the initiative while others in disagreement. Building a border wall between the United States and Mexico is ideally auspicious for regulating movement at the border, but it is not practical.

The proposal to build a U.S. – Mexico border wall has been under discussion for long, and recent developments seem to favor its implementation. However, some ground facts give apparent reasons for the ineffectiveness and impracticability of the wall. The first fact to consider is that the U.S. – Mexico border is three thousand, one hundred and forty-five kilometers long. The distance is very long and significant in deciding to erect a wall that separates Mexico and the United States from one end to the other. In the past, some surveys have been done to establish the opinion of the public concerning the building of the wall. In 2013, 57% of the interviewed citizens supported the project. In 2015, the number reduced to 51%. In 2016, the number decreased further to 39% (Bier, 2016). The vital aspect to note about the surveys is that they did not specify the length of the border. Therefore, people did not put into consideration the length of the wall as a factor when giving their sentiments.

Building a wall that is more than three thousand kilometers long is not as simple as it is mentioned. The building of the wall has not been transparent since the beginning due to many uncertainties, and its length is one of them. In 2015, President Trump promised the Americans of building a secure wall along the border. Later, he mentioned that the wall would not cover the whole length of the border. The reason was that it emerged that it was not possible to construct the wall in some areas due to the topography. The landscape of the area along the border is a good reason to prevent the construction of an effective wall along the border because of features such as rivers, cliffs, and hills (Alvarez, 2019). The topographies may make it hard to erect a fence, but they can be an easy route for the entry of illegal aliens.

The budget for building the wall is at least eight billion U.S. dollars. The amount is enormous, especially when it is projected not to be as effective as expected. The wall is supposed to run through different territories which are owned by various parties, making its building to face legal hindrances (Miller & Nevins, 2017). Walls are just structures and apart from being erected, they need routine maintenance because they can get damaged by nature of even human beings. Support of the wall is an additional expense to the country. In the current fence, more than four thousand breaches were identified and repaired along the border in 2018 (Alvarez, 2019). People have been able to climb over the wall and cross the border because a wall is static and cannot prevent any activity. The other challenge to building such a massive wall is that it is difficult to monitor it effectively from one end to the other.

The cost of building the U.S. border is very high, and the chances are high that it may not be effective in preventing unwanted movement along the border. Apart from the financial constraint, the building of the wall is faced by practical and legal deterrents that make it unrealizable. The chief reason for constructing the wall is to prevent the illegal movement of people and goods across the border for the safety of the people. While building the wall sounds impractical, it may be necessary for the government to look for other alternatives that are reliable and promising in providing border security at a lower cost than what a wall demands.

References

Alvarez, C. J. (2019). Border Land, Border Water: A History of Construction on the US-Mexico Divide. University of Texas Press.

Bier, D. (2016, November 28). A Wall Is an Impractical, Expensive, and Ineffective Border Plan. Retrieved from At Liberty: https://www.cato.org/blog/border-wall-impractical-expensive-ineffective-plan

Miller, T., & Nevins, J. (2017). Beyond Trump’s Big, Beautiful Wall: Trump’s plan to wall off the entire US-Mexico border is just one of a growing list of actions that extend US border patrol efforts far past the international boundary itself. NACLA Report on the Americas, 49(2), 145-151.