President Trump’s United States-Mexican Border Wall

Usha Singh

Sociology 307

Final Paper

December 21, 2017

                        President Trump’s United States-Mexican Border Wall

The U.S.-Mexico Border Wall & Its Purpose

President Trump’s plan for America during his candidacy was to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Essentially, the purpose of this U.S.-Mexico wall is to restrict illegal immigration. “For decades, the border was a largely invisible line, across which most people could move back and forth without documents of any kind. No more. Now Mexican and other immigrants seeking entry to the United States from the south needed to apply for and receive a visa, pay a fee, undergo sometimes horribly invasive physical exams, and contend with a border patrol, which was intent at times on keeping them out” (Fox, Guglielmo 363). His promise was to build this wall on the southern U.S. border and deport illegal immigrants living within the United States. “While Mexican nationals constituted the largest group of migrants crossing and recrossing the border each day, Anglo-Americans, Asian Americans, Europeans, Japanese and Chinese nationals, and Japanese and Chinese Mexicans, among others, also took advantage of the border’s permeability” (Kang 13). Essentially, this is what Trump is trying to terminate. According to President Trump, his main reason for this is because “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," he said. "They're sending people that have lots of problems… They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

        Mexico’s border is about 1,900 miles long and spreads over the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Presently, there are already 700 miles of fencing along the border.

The remainder of it is either left open, difficult to build on or blockaded. President Trump says his wall will have to cover 1,000 miles with the rest being protected and covered by natural boundaries. The cost of the wall would be roughly between $15 billion and $25 billion with an annual maintenance cost of $700 million. President Trump says Mexico will be paying for the wall by seizing remittances from undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S. and rising the fee for entry visas into the U.S. for Mexican citizens. However, Mexico’s president says that will not happen.

The Consequences of Building the Border Wall

        Although the wall may seem like a good idea to President Trump, it comes along with many consequences that aren’t all positive. One is that the wall will not be infallible in keeping illegal immigration out of the United States. “As a result of these new policies, Mexican deportation rates rose, as did the size of the unauthorized Mexican population. Those Mexicans who were considered to be “illegal” found it much harder to legalize their status, thanks to federal rules that privileged the legalization of Europeans instead” (Fox, Guglielmo 363). If aliens want to come over for better opportunities and for a better life they will find a way to do so and it’s impossible to fully guard the wall. Another consequence of the wall is that it will end up costing more than the 8 billion Trump has proposed and Mexico will never pay for it since there is no legal way into forcing them to pay for it. Basically, this means the citizens of the United States will end up paying for it through taxation or something of that nature. Additionally, the wall has its environmental effects as well. The wall will affect natural waterways, airflow and animal migration by blocking them and creating a barren area. During the construction of this, wild life areas can be greatly affected by machinery and material storage. Lastly, it will also impose an unreasonable burden on landowners where the wall would be built. Surprisingly, these aren’t the only major consequences of building the border wall. There are many families who suffer from this division emotionally and even psychologically from not being able to see their loved ones for a number of years. “The apprehension and removal of Mexicans today is likely to have a profound impact on families, including children, living in the United States” (Dreby 831). Children are forced to grow up with only one parent or sometimes even other family members. “Contemporary deportation campaigns are likely to affect millions of U.S. citizen children growing up in Mexican households” (Dreby 832).

Also, this border changes the way Mexicans classify themselves, “Indeed, regional particularities have undoubtedly shaped the ways that people of Mexican descent have referred to themselves over time and continue to ensure a diversity of preferences and politics in the names people choose for themselves. For example, because their families had resided for a long time either on the U.S. side of the United States–Mexico border or in the state of Texas itself, Mexican-origin people in Texas prefer the term “tejano” (42 percent in a recent survey), followed by “mexicano,” and finally by “Mexican American” (Oboler 4).

Is the Border Wall Justified Based on What We Know About Criminality in the United States?

One of the main reasons behind President Trump’s determination for building the border wall is to get rid of immigrants who are said to increase more crimes. One continuous assumption is that immigration is associated with an increase in crime rates. As I mentioned earlier, President Trump believes Mexicans are bringing over drugs, crimes and rapists into the United States. However, based on the readings we have done this past semester we know that this isn’t the issue.

According to, “Debunking the Myth of Immigrant Criminality: Imprisonment Among First- and Second-Generation Young Men” by Rumbaut, Gonzales, Komaie and Morgan, in the General Social Survey of 2000, “Asked whether ‘more immigrants cause higher crime rates,’ 25 percent said, ‘very likely’ and another 48 percent ‘somewhat likely’ — that is, about three-fourths (73 percent) believed that immigration was causally related to more crime.” Evidently, based on numerous studies we know that there is no direct correlation between immigrants and crime.

Also, according to Rumbaut, Gonzales, Komaie and Morgan 2000 men among the ages of 18-39, had a 3.5% incarceration rate of the native-born which was about 5 times higher than the 0.7% incarceration rate of the foreign born. In fact, among Hispanics, Asians and Mexicans, they all show lower rates of incarceration when compared to rates among native born individuals. This proves that natives are more likely to increase crime rates than immigrants would. To a degree, the thought of building the border wall in order to get rid of immigrant criminality specifically by Mexicans, is erroneous. This doesn’t stand as a strong point in justifying why the construction of the border wall is acceptable because we can see that criminality in the U.S. exists even without Mexican immigrants.