In his first official budget, Donald Trump followed through on his absurd commitment to building a physical wall along the southern border of the United States. Once again, Trump proved that his approach is completely unserious, opting to reverse engineer important policy decisions around sloganeering (Build that Wall!) rather than on the basis of the reality of the world we live in. Most fundamentally, a border wall is ineffective as an immigration policy because there are at least three obvious ways around it: over, under and through. Even worse, it exacts an incalculable human toll on the families and communities anywhere nearby.
The proposal is widely recognized as ineffective and ridiculous. It would waste billions of dollars, yet will have a negligible impact on immigration. However, the human, economic, and wildlife costs are significant. A border wall would make it nearly impossible for animals like ocelots and jaguars to move between the United States and Mexico. The ocelot and jaguar are already endangered in the U.S, and a wall could spell their end in the United States. Moreover, a solid wall or fence could worsen already devastating floods. In 2008, flooding killed two people in Nogales and caused 8 million dollars in damages when heavy rains turned the border wall into a dam. And here’s the kicker: this wasteful boondoggle will come at a substantial cost to taxpayers, to the tune of $21.6 billion dollars.
Instead of prioritizing a more sensible approach or comprehensive immigration reform that provides a pathway to citizenship, Trump and Mick Mulvaney’s “billionaire budget” solidifies their irrational and heartless commitment to a physical border wall. Not only does the proposal fail as an immigration policy, but it also will entail massive costs—all while tarnishing the image and reputation of the borderlands and its people.
The many failings of Trump’s border wall proposal are directly in line with the rest of Trump’s budget proposal, which projects a total disregard for the health and safety of families in America by cutting the programs and agencies we all depend on for clean air, safe drinking water, and protection of our public lands. Supporting these measures would be a huge mistake, which is why we urge congress to reject both this “fat cat” budget as a whole and a physical border wall in specific.