The Wall: Will It Actually Solve American Problems?

By Alyssa Tompkins

Simple answer: maybe. Most probable answer: no.

I'm going to dive right in with a quick preface: All issues I'm addressing in this post are issues that Trump himself (incorrectly) addressed in previous interviews or discussions on the topic. So, to start, just understand that almost all facts from this post come from a Factchecker.org article entitled FactChecking the Trump-Pelosi-Schumer Scuffle. But, like all of my other blog posts, I will be interjecting a lot of my own (very left leaning opinion) after I give the facts.

Here we go. Immigrants do not bring disease into America according to scientific evidence. Even where there were legitimate concerns about this problem, such as the disease Tuberculosis, a Norwegian study proved it to not be a grand scale issue. Furthermore, other countries have higher vaccine rates than America, making them less disease ridden than Americans. Now, in my opinion I can see where the concern for the population's health stems from, but it also comes from a place of prejudice and needs to end. Seeing immigrants as inherently dirty is a prejudice that only allows American people to feel superior to those trying to gain entrance to our country.

Next, drugs. Most drugs actually come through legitimate and monitored points of entry (aka p.o.e.'s) at the border, not just random holes. The drugs are carefully hidden in secret compartments in trailers or in other vehicles which pass through customs and border control, according to the DEA. Building a wall will do nothing to deter people from bringing drugs into America; it just won't. Similarly, Trump needs to understand that drugs would not be brought into America if there was not a market for them, a market which actually helps to keep our economy up and running. But, I digress. Drugs are coming into this country through legal entrances, so a wall would be a waste of millions of dollars and drugs will still come into the country.

And now folks, here is my favorite issue to address: are people really losing their jobs to immigrants? The most direct answer is simply no, they're not. The US added over 19 million jobs in the last few years, including a staggering 4.2 million since Trump took office last year. Adding on to that, the unemployment rate is at 3.7%. People are not losing their jobs to migrant workers; there are clearly enough jobs to go around to the people entering the country and are willing to work for them.

So will this wall solve American problems? Looking at the facts, no it will not. It will not stop disease from spreading to Americans because there is not too much disease to begin with. It will not stop drugs from entering our country; they are coming in through p.o.e.'s and will continue to do so even with a wall.

This wall will not solve America's problems, not by a long shot.