Imagine you are a single Venezuelan mother with three kids. You live in a dilapidated apartment complex in an dangerous neighborhood, crawling with drunks and drug addicts. You want to provide a better life for your kids, but you are living paycheck to paycheck, and can barely afford to keep a roof over their heads. You lose your job, and with the recent crisis where you live, you are thrown out on the streets with your three children: a thirteen year old, a two year old, and a ten month old, unable to pay the rent. What would you do? Alas, this is a problem many young mothers among the Spanish countries face. Our current U.S. president, Donald Trump, plans to form a border wall or fence to keep such people, simply searching for a better life, out of the country. This plan has ignited a debate about whether or not a border wall is beneficially necessary. The United States of America should not continue to build a wall/fence along the U.S. /Mexico border because of its ineffectiveness, damaging environmental effects, and the preposterous expense.

      The United States should not build a border wall because of its ineffectiveness as a border wall to keep out the illegal immigrants. According to the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board in an editorial called “Pretty Much the Only Thing Trump’s Border Wall Will Block is Common Sense”, it reads “ Trump has milked the melodrama of a border wall, but he ignores the likelihood that it would be ineffectual… Human migration routes are like rivers: If they hit an obstacle , the flow finds a way around it. So a wall will just lead smugglers to find new methods… Nor would Trump’s border wall address the growth in illegal immigration from Asia, which outpaces immigration from Latin America…”. The border wall Trump proposes in effective because people will find a way around it. They will always find another way such as digging beneath the wall and climbing over it. Trump claims that many of the incoming immigrants travel with criminal intent and are drug-dealers. In fact, undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a far lower rate than native- born Americans. This border wall does not account for the illegal immigration from the Asian countries, which far outnumbers those few from Latin countries. In addition, the majority of undocumented immigrants come from air travel, so the border wall will do nothing to prevent them from entering. Therefore, the U.S./Mexico border wall shouldn’t be built based on its inability to do its primary: keeping illegal immigrants from entering.

        The border wall or fence plans also does not carry any regards to the environmental damage that the wall inflicts. According to Jeff Corwin, an wildlife biologist and nature conservationist, who says “If the border wall actually happens, it will be an environmental catastrophe. Essentially, what it's doing is cutting through nature’s bridge, which connects Central America to North America and South America. Wildlife have been using this natural corridor for millions of years. And, essentially what this administration wants to do is put a twelve-hundred mile long barrier right through it.” The border wall could push many endangered species, such as the jaguar and the ocelot, to the point of extinction. These species would also lose parts of their habitat due to this border wall. Their migration patterns would be disturbed, and deter the animals’ ability to meet their daily needs. A wall could prevent animals from successfully adapting. The wall also  separates the Rio Grande, Colorado, and Tijuana rivers, negatively impacting the water quality and natural cleansing processes of the river. Thus, this could lead to a buildup of pollutants, solid and chemical, in the river. Coupled with increased carbon emissions from the new wall, the U.S. should cease all work on the new border fence due to environmental impact.

        Proponents of the border wall argue that the wall is relatively inexpensive and a fair price to pay. As stated by Mr. Donald Trump, occupant of the White House, in his first prime-time address from the Oval Office, he requests 5.7 billion dollars to build a steel wall. He asks Congress for funds so that the Department for Homeland Security professionals can fully carry out their jobs. Many argue that this is but a small price to pay to protect and improve our nation. It is relatively small compared to money spent on aircraft carriers and food programs. Trump even says that Mexico will help cover the costs. However, according to various economists from many irrefutable sites, have done the numbers and have totaled the cost to over $50 billion for building and maintaining the wall for over a lifetime. America is already trillions of dollars in debt. We don’t need to add to that total by building a wall. This border wall will most likely raise taxes as a result, meaning that a portion of your paycheck will go into this futile wall. Moreover, Mexico is not willing to help pay for this wall/fence, as stated by Felipe Calderon, 56th president of Mexico. Hence, the United States should terminate the border wall due to its outrageous expense.

      Ultimately, the United States should recognize the ineffectiveness, disastrous environmental effects, and incorrigible expense and halt construction on the wall/fence on the U.S./Mexico border. Only a month ago, Trump employed new targeting strategies in a speech from the Oval Office to attempt to persuade Congress to grant him the funds he needs to continue construction. America is a land built on immigrants. It doesn’t make sense to deny frantic people, fleeing violence and seeking asylum, entry. As Ayanna Pressley, member of the House of Representatives, from Massachusetts 7th congressional district and Democrat, says “Mr. Trump, you took an oath just as I did five days ago, to protect and defend the Constitution and the American people. Sir, you dishonor that oath. You devalue the life of the immigrant, the worker, and the survivor… I rise today in support of the survivor fleeing violent hands, seeking safety, only to find the shelter doors locked because of your shutdown [referring to the government shutdown Trump imposed to force Congress into paying for the wall, leaving thousands without pay]. Today I rise as one and stand as thousands.”   If you believe in the promise of our young nation, oppose the border wall. If you enjoy avocados, take a stand. If you dislike the idea of building a hurtful, cruel, and disastrous wall built out of the ignorance of our latest president, Donald Trump, join the ongoing debate.