Newsplaining

A semi-permeable wall
     Last week, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated to the country his campaign promise of building a wall along the border of Mexico and the U.S., except that Mexico will now be reimbursing the costs, fronted by the American people.
     Many have responded with outrage about the financing of the multi-billion dollar project, while others have said it’s a necessary cost to protect the country.
     If you’re someone that believes in having physical borders, that’s fine. But I’d invite you to consider what building a wall along the Mexican border will actually accomplish.
     According to a Politifact article from 2015, referencing building a border wall, nearly 40 percent of those currently classified as “undocumented immigrants,” came here legally, and have merely overstayed their visas. According to the Pew Research Center using data from 2014, most of these immigrants came from the Asian-Pacific, Central America and sub-Saharan Africa (which represent 48 percent of undocumented immigrants, approximately 5.3 million people).
     As mentioned above, these immigrants came here legally, and were filtered through customs with background checks. Most come for temporary work, schooling or are merely visitors, who end up staying longer than legally allowed by their visas. Building a wall is fine, but how does one stop planes from traveling globally, carrying hundreds of thousands of people to thousands of airports every day? Especially when the wall is only being built along the Mexican border?
     According to a 2015 Department of Homeland Security Entry/Exit Overstay Report, Canada had over 93,000 visa overstays, as compared to Mexico’s over 42,000 overstays. By the logic being used by the incoming Trump Administration — that most immigrants come from Mexico hopping the border, it would make sense to build a wall along the Canadian border as well —with the present information — which is twice as long and covers more rough terrain than along the Mexican border, which would elevate the cost of both borders into the trillions.
     Let’s say both walls are built; according to that same report, over 272,000 overstays in 2015 came from Europe, South America and Asia. That total is larger than Canada and Mexico combined. And of course these folks travel by plane to enter the country.
     Let’s not get the facts wrong, though. People do enter the country illegally. It is estimated by the DHS that 720,000 Mexicans attempt to cross the border every year, and approximately half are apprehended by border security. That would mean that every year, 360,000 Mexicans successfully cross the border every year. For perspective, according to the Center for Disease Control 2014 data, almost 4 million babies were born in the U.S.
     Now, babies can’t participate actively in the American economy as much as undocumented immigrants, but when it comes to workforce population, according to the Pew Research Institute, the U.S. civilian workforce in 2014 was made up of eight million unauthorized immigrants from across the globe, making up only five percent of those working or unemployed. This figure is down from 8.2 million in 2007.
     This bit of information is key in deciding what building a multi-billion dollar wall will accomplish in terms of immigration policy.
     Most undocumented immigrants are from other countries besides Mexico (only 337,117 crossed over in 2015, according to the U.S. Border Patrol) and come here legally. They just merely overstay their visas.
     Not to mention, most Mexicans that are now called “undocumented” came to the U.S. as seasonal migrant workers, who trafficked back and forth across the border. It wasn’t until Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush gave in to social pressure to tighten the border, which undocumented Mexican populations increased, due to challenges in returning to Mexico.
     According to Pew Research, 66 percent of current population of undocumented immigrants have actually been in the country for over a decade. Only seven percent of undocumented Mexicans have been in the country for less than five years.
     A wall won’t do much in stopping illegal immigration over the border. A wall merely stops someone from deciding one day to come to America; it doesn’t stop anyone who planned to enter the country and stray from a visa.
     Not to mention, it is perfectly legal in this country for corporations, businesses and single persons, to contract labor from other countries. According to Pew Research, 26 percent and 15 percent of undocumented workers are involved in the farming and construction industries, respectively. These workers can be legally brought into the country on temporary work visas that then realize that the risk of being deported is worth staying in America. Wouldn’t you? If the only risk is that you return to your country of origin, or make twice as much as you would back home, wouldn’t you stay?
     These companies that import workers should be hiring members of the working class for these jobs. Congress should make it illegal to import workers, giving these jobs to hardworking Americans instead. If there is no opportunity, then there is no point in taking a risk in another country.
     Congress can also create more effective immigration policy by making the path to citizenship easier. On a temporary visa, an immigrant is taxed on their income for as long as the visa is active. When that visa expires, taxes stop being collected on that immigrant. Wouldn’t it make sense to offer citizenship to that immigrant to increase the tax base?
     For those that say to close the borders, I ask why not increase the tax base? With more people, the government doesn’t tax individuals as much because those taxes are offset by the population. Not to mention that hiring more persons to review applications not only creates government jobs, it also pays for itself because of the increased taxed base. By the research available, eight million people joining the tax base is no drop in the bucket.
     So should we build a wall?           If you believe in a nation having physical borders, that is fine, we can build a wall, but just as long as no one is fooling themselves that it’s permeable and will have meaningful affects on immigration policy. It will only increase the deficit by putting millions of people to work in building, staffing and maintaining it. And while we build one for Mexico, there should be one on Canada built as well. This, combined with laws preventing the import of workers and quicker paths to citizenship will only increase jobs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt built massive highway systems and government sponsored projects, putting millions of Americans back to work, making a livable wage.
     Just don’t import workers to build it…