Just Another Brick
While there have been many controversial topics among
the campaign trail, immigration has always been at the top. Donald Trump’s comments on the wall across
Mexico have landed him in hot water on both parties. His reasoning behind the wall is try slow or
stop illegal immigration as well as the massive amounts of drugs being
transported by the cartels. In 2014
there were 11.3 million illegal immigrants according to the PEW Research
Center. This number makes up around 3.5%
of the U.S. population and has since decreased because of the economy. The largest states accounting for unauthorized
immigrants are California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Within the country the immigrants also make
up 5.1% of the labor force with California and Nevada having the highest share
of workers. All of these statistics show that although the number of illegal
immigrants has slowed in the last few years it has not stopped and will not
continue too. Another factor into
immigration are the removal of illegals in the U.S., according to ICE there
were 235,413 removals in 2015, 96,045 were non-criminal violators while 139,368
were convicted criminals. Clearly this
is an issue that needs to be addressed and discussed. To answer the question “Is building a wall a
response to national security or an exercise in ethnocentricity?”
I believe it is not a
response to national security, experts have projected that the possible cost of
the wall would be around $17 billion or NASA’s operating budget. Many walls have been built throughout time to
keep out a nation’s enemy. From the Great
Wall of China to the Berlin Wall, they have been a symbol of physical
expression. The U.S. was built on laws
and born from a country based on immigrants, with a process to allow
citizenship. In response to building a
massive wall more emphasis should be used in expanding security though
technology. Using electronic and cyber defenses
and drone can be used to control the flow of not only immigrants but
drugs. Walls can be breached and they
will always continue to be broken through.
The only real solution is through a diplomatic result. The U.S. is a great nation and we are a
country are lucky to have the freedom and rights we do, nonetheless this does
not make us better than another nation.
The U.S. is becoming a melting pot of diversity because of all the different
people that make up the nation, and we are advancing as a nation because of the
diversity we experience.
Krogstad, Jens Manuel, and Jeffrey S. Passel. "5
Facts about Illegal Immigration in the U.S." Pew Research Center RSS. Pew
Research Center, 19 Nov. 2015. Web. 20 June 2016.
“FY 2015 ICE Immigration Removals." ICE |. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 20 June 2016.
Gerstein, Daniel. "Walls Won't Keep Us
Safe." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 16 Apr. 2016. Web. 20 June
2016.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed by the statistics in your post. Thanks for sharing them! In particular, I had no idea that 139,368 out of the 235,413 illegals who were removed from the United States in 2015 were convicted criminals. Although I was aware drug trafficking is a problem, I simply supposed most illegals had come to get jobs. Nor was I aware that 11.3 million, or 3.5% of the US population consists of illegals. I agree with you, though, that a full border wall between the United States and Mexico isn't the answer. My belief is that that would cause more problems than it would solve.
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ReplyDeleteHey Richard,
ReplyDeleteYou have some really good points in there and I am shocked by them but I think that the wall is for national security measures. Let me give you an example why, say Walmart was just a store that had no walls or ceiling only a select few security guards. It would be much easier to steal what was from the inside because there is no structure to regulate and it will be more space to watch. Now put the walls back up the security guards have a exit and entrance they can guard now stealing would go down because it would be tougher to get out. Building the wall is still far far fetched but I honestly think it would help because now the guards have specific spaces to watch over. But there are other people that do want the wall built for the wrong reasons though and I am aware of that and that is terrible.
There is so called wall now that was placed by the Bush administration, although this one was left partially finished and has been penetrated many times by cartels and immigrants. If more border security were hired as well as surveillance this not only would slow illegal drugs and immigration but create jobs as well. Possibly the cost of more employees and surveillance would be less than the 17 billion needed to build the wall.
DeleteWalMart v. The United States. What's wrong with this argument? What fallacy is at work here?
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