Welcome everyone to another installment of Politically Purple. I am so excited to share my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs with you; it is my hope that you will do the same for me.
With that in mind, let’s get started.
The Topic: The Border Wall
To describe the relationship between Mexican immigration and the ever-changing laws and procedures that apply to the topic would take a great deal of history. For convenience sake, we’ll stick to discussing only “The Wall”.
The story of “The Wall” begins in 1993. President Clinton calls for a $39 million-dollar “Border Wall” to stretch 13 miles between San Diego and Tijuana. The Wall was projected to reduce border apprehensions from 100,000 to 5,000 per day. However, immigrants simply found other routes of entry.
Next, we jump to 2006; October 2006 to be exact. President George W. Bush signed into law what is known as the Secure Fence Act of 2006. In short, this act required the Secretary of Homeland Security to: a. monitor the land and sea of our nation’s southern border with increasingly more efficient technological resources, b. conduct research on the need and feasibility of better infrastructure security along the northern border, and c. erect physical infrastructure enhancements along the southern border. These enhancements would specifically require at least “2 layers of reinforced fencing”, and, in 2008, the U.S. announced they would waive about 30 different federal and state environmental laws to complete the construction of the fencing.
Fast forward to 2009. President Obama has only been in office for a few short months, and tensions are beginning to rise as his administration stays silent on the issue of the border fence. As a senator for the state of Illinois, President Obama voted for the Secure Fence Act (mentioned above), but part of his 2008 presidential campaign was a promise to review and reevaluate the act due to its harmful impacts on the environment where it was being erected. As promised, President Obama reviewed the law, and, in an attempt to appease both furious environmentalists and those in fear of illegal border crossings started seeking new opportunities to solve both issues.
In 2009, President Obama sought to increase support of Mexican border patrol officials. He allocated money not to increase infrastructure, but to increase personnel. While border barriers were continuing to be constructed, President Obama, in 2011, chose to cut funding towards the completion of large sections of fencing along the southern border. This solution attempted to focus less on overriding environmental regulations to build physical barricades by focusing instead on monitoring the border more heavily.
Jumping forward to 2012, during President Obama’s second term in office, he created DACA. This program sought to reduce the number of illegal immigrants internally rather than at the border since 66% of all undocumented people living in America actually came to the country legally and simply overstayed their visas.
This brings us to 2015, the year President Trump ran on the campaign promise to build a 1,000-mile wall along the southern border. A campaign promise Trump continues to push for today. This year alone, several major events have taken place regarding the wall, including the longest government shutdown in U.S. History and a National Emergency declaration made by President Trump to obtain billions of dollars in funding for the construction of “The Wall”, funding Congress refused to grant.
That, in sum, is the history of “The Wall”.
Here’s The Red
The red generally agrees with and supports the construction of “The Wall”. One politically red individual, Anna Raymond, accepted an interview to give me her thoughts on “The Wall”.
Interviewer: Explain to me what President Trump’s policy is for the construction of “The Wall”.
Anna: Some of the policy is updating or replacing pre-existing barriers along the border. For example, there are metal landing pads used for helicopters in the Vietnam War along some stretches. Some of the existing barrier is fencing that is easily penetrated by tools. So these would be upgraded. There are also stretches of the border with no barrier whatsoever, and these areas would be getting a barrier for the first time. “The Wall” has now turned into a see-through barrier of steel posts, that is supposed to be less costly.
Interviewer: Why are you in support of The Wall’s construction?
Anna: A nation has to have borders. Our southern border has many problem areas with either no border or a border that is too easily crossed. Illegal immigration is costly to taxpayers, and I’m okay with having a one time cost of building a wall to stop the annual cost. There are different figures, as you can imagine. I’ve seen reports from around 54 billion dollars annually to over 100 billion annually. So 5.6 [billion dollars] for a one time wall is a very small comparison. There are many border patrol agents who have reported that having a wall would significantly improve their ability to do their job. And I think overall having a problem with illegal immigration draws away from the immigration policy as a whole, which also struggles with overstayed visas, perhaps not giving out enough visas, things like that. So I think you have to fix the illegal aspect so you can then have some reform on the legal immigration system.
Interviewer: What are your thoughts about Trump utilizing a national emergency declaration to supply funding for the wall’s construction?
Anna: Definitely against national emergency for the wall. I don’t like executive overreach, no matter what party is in power. As a conservative, I’m not a fan of the government taking more power than it should. We have checks and balance system for a reason. I also think this sets a precedent for future presidents to push their own agendas. I’m also disappointed at the timing because Ted Cruz introduced a bill, right about the same time as Trump declared the national emergency, that would have used the drug boss El Chapo’s 14 billion dollars to fund the wall. I would have liked to see that happen. But I think Trump used a national emergency to supply funding as a last resort. He heavily campaigned on a wall, and without it, his chances of reelection are slim, in my opinion.
Here’s The Blue
The blue generally opposes construction of “The Wall”. Refutations for the proposed “Wall” range, however. Some believe the return on investment is far too low. Others, as I’ve mentioned, strongly oppose the environmental effects “The Wall” will have on the habitats of certain animals along the border. I spoke with Hannah Banderman, a politically blue American to find out her reasons for opposing “The Wall”.
Interviewer: Why are you against the construction of “The Wall”?
Hannah: I’m very much against the construction of “The Wall”. Aside from the fact that [President] Trump’s rhetoric is divisive, it’s also fallacious. I don’t believe the U.S. needs to invest money in a wall when we can invest in public education and public services.
Interviewer: Why should we remove funding from immigration and shift it to public schooling?
Hannah: From what I understand, the money Trump wants to use is just government funding. If it’s allocated to immigration, let us use it to streamline the immigration process, so we can quickly reconnect families and promote productive citizenship.
Interviewer: What are your thoughts about Trump utilizing a national emergency declaration to supply funding for the wall’s construction?
Hannah: Frankly, I think it’s ridiculous. He’s using his station to promote his personal agenda, and I find it highly inappropriate.
Interviewer: If Trump gets the funding he deems necessary to fund the construction of “The Wall”, what do you believe will be the ramifications?
Hannah: If Trump receives the funding he wants and builds the wall, I believe POC and ethnic/racial minorities will be targeted. I believe travel will be more difficult, and it will create more tension between the US and Mexico as well as the U.S. and other countries. I believe it will further the fear-mongering and scapegoating that is already used too often, creating an “us vs. them” mentality.
Here’s The Purple
There is no clear cut response to illegal immigration. While I understand the desire to secure our nation’s borders, I think the construction of “The Wall” is a large undertaking, one that is not necessary at this point in our nation’s history. According to Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, illegal border crossings are at an all-time low. I also think President Trump manufactured a “crisis” in order to receive funding for his greatest campaign promise — “The Wall”. His “National Emergency” declaration makes a mockery of true national emergencies (terrorist attacks, natural disasters, etc.), and I think he should be ashamed of this great abuse of power.
Instead of spending a minimum of $12 billion dollars to fund “The Wall”, I am more interested in using this immigration funds to search and monitor the various tunnels that exist under U.S. Mexico boundary. The tunnels, which are being used to smuggle drugs and arms back and forth between the neighboring countries, are a greater safety risk than the already falling number of migrants crossing the bounder.
Therefore, I do not support the construction of “The Wall”. I do, however, support the monitoring of our nation’s borders (on all fronts, not just the U.S. Mexico boundary). I also think we, as a country, should offer greater amnesty to illegal immigrants currently living within our country, especially those who have on all other fronts been upstanding, helpful, productive contributors to our society.
Where are you?
I’ve shared with you the perspectives of myself and others. Now, let me hear from you. Do you want to see “The Wall” constructed? Why or why not? What are your thoughts on Trump’s National Emergency Declaration?
Want to follow Anna or Hannah on social media? Simply click their names to follow their content.
Also, if you’d like to determine where you fall on a political map based on your responses to issues like this one, check out the awesome political quiz on isidewith.com. Make sure to share your results as me, and until next time…
…peace and blessing, all.
Politically Purple 
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