America has faced consequences from illegal immigration for too long. President after president have looked into ways of decreasing the number of illegal immigrants that don’t see a problem flooding into our country, assaulting border patrol officers and leaving law-abiding citizens in the dust. American citizens are at risk from this, but the fingers should be pointing at a society we’ve created: one that accepts intolerance and doesn’t fight back when the law is being broken.
Legal immigration is beneficial to and healthy for this country. And although, surprisingly, the number of illegal immigrants have been reportedly decreasing throughout the years, 10 million is not zero.
For many months, there have been caravans formed in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. They flee their countries from possible danger and poverty to seek asylum here, not realizing the danger is hiding and traveling with them.
Illegal immigration has met its arch nemesis, currently sitting in the White House—and he has had enough. After fulfilling other campaign promises (like ridding us of Obamacare and creating low unemployment), there has been little to show toward building Trump’s promised wall. This promise in his campaign was what drew out many supporters to vote for him, as they resonate with Trump’s idea of putting America first and keeping it safe. The pattern of U.S. citizens dying under the criminal act of an illegal has been recognized by his supporters, and they have placed this problem in the hands of President Trump to put an end to it. However, it’s January 2019, and unless he is re-elected in 2020, he is running out of time.
Before Trump took office, there already stood a barrier on the southern border, stretching 654 miles long. Specifically, there are 354 miles of barriers to stop pedestrian entrance, and 300 miles of anti-vehicle fencing.
Congress has so far approved $1.7 billion in funding for a new replacement barrier of 124 miles, but Trump demands more. He is asking for $5.7 billion in addition to the $1.7 billion for new and replacement borders, and to apply steel opposed to concrete.
In order to receive the funding that Trump needs, the Democratic Party needs to be on the same page, but there are not enough votes. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have made it very clear that they do not, and will not, support a wall that they believe is too expensive and inefficient.
Because of the current offer that fails to be agreed upon, Trump has threatened and succeeded in partially shutting down the government. Currently ongoing, this is the longest-lasting government shut down in the history of the United States.
It is no surprise that every American, in some way, is affected by this decision, as this is the most impacting and eye-catching attempt to work with Congress and the Democratic Party toward making the wall a reality.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are being forced to work with suspended pay. Families are suffering because of this. Admiral Karl Schultz from the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted, “I find it unacceptable that @USCG members must rely on food pantries and donations to get through day-to-day life.”
Nonetheless, slowly and surely Trump will lose supporters due to this record-breaking shut down, but then why isn’t he giving up? Hasn’t this lasted long enough? Is it possible his decision was just an outrage at the Democratic Party, or is he just stubborn?
Days ago, Trump tweeted out a thank you to all the people who are working hard for the country and not getting paid, referring to them as “great patriots.”
The truth is that Trump believes that building a wall is a safe option for his people and believes lives will be saved. As we’ve seen, he will do everything within his power to put the safety of the American people first.
As hard as it is to swallow, the safety of the American people in the long run is more important to our president than the day-to-day income. Because of that, if a wall soon becomes a possibility, for our sake, it better be worth it.