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Guadalupe Terrazas

Pre English

Ms. Dominika Szybisty

30 July 2017

Would a Border Wall Lead to a Betterment in American Economics?

When I came to the United States at the tender age of four years old, I knew nothing

about the enormous impact of the American culture. I knew nothing about where I was going and

how that migration from my hometown of Chihuahua, Chihuahua Mexico was going to change

my life. I soon began to realize how different every person in America is but how we all are a

part of this one country as well.

When I was about ten years old, I really started to think about my future in this country. I

started going to work with my father. Who works as a laborer for Long Fence Company. We

would put up fences at these enormous construction sites for some of the biggest construction

companies in the United States. Witnessing these massive plain, empty, fields being turned into

grand structures was really a marvel to me. Being fascinated with art at a young age combined

with my awe of construction I looked into the profession of architecture. I had no doubt that

architecture was the career path for me. I found that it was something that would always remind

me of of my parents hard work in this country as well as satisfy my need to innovate with art.

With all the controversy surrounding the most recent presidential election, I decided to look into

one of the leading promises by our forty-fifth president. The border wall proposal that was so

discussed by every Mexican-American in the country. Considering my background as a

Mexican-American student, my experiences actually working with hundreds of undocumented

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Mexican immigrants, and my desire to become an architect, I started to imagine the possibility of

a border wall that would cut off a whole population of people from coming to the country that

has given my family and I so much. Considering Latin America's contribution to the growth and

destruction of American economy, would President Trumps border wall be beneficial for

American economics? What would such a grand project entail for America?

This big controversy began to stir on June 16th, 2015 when Donald Trump announced his

candidacy for president of the United States. What Donald Trump said during this announcement

angered the democratic public. His main argument was that immigration had to be strengthened.

To combat undocumented Mexicans he called for a wall to be built between the U.S. and Mexico

to stop drug cartels and illegal immigration. There were people of all spectrums giving their

opinions on this issue. But the real fact of the matter is that the wall idea proposed by President

Donald Trump might be beneficial to Americas economy. There has to be a considerable

amount of research made about whether or not this wall is even worth building for America.

Looking to see if all the negative outcomes that might come with blocking of one of Americas

closest neighbor in trade and commerce, outweigh all the positive outcomes that might come

with the wall.

The first step to decipher this question is to look at what countries have already done this

wall building method. According to Esteban Flores of the Harvard International Review,

Trumps plans to build a wall is by no means a rare thing in other parts of the globe. Britain,

Bulgaria, Norway, and Turkey have all built walls along their borders so what would prevent the

United States from applying the same method that these countries are using. Flores article

examines the use of the wall method of these countries to keep out unwanted immigrants and
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drug cartels. Out of the examples presented in the Harvard Review article, Israel is one of them

who has done it successfully. Although their wall construction along their southern border flew

below the radar, they have managed to lower their illegal immigration substantially. Most of the

illegal immigration to Israel was coming from the countries Sudan and Eritrea. The Israeli border

wall located along Sudan and Eritrea is relatively small compared to what the U.S.-Mexico

border wall would be. Coming in at roughly 150 miles. Compared to the Mexican border wall

which would need to be around 2,000 miles long (Esteban Flores 10) This could be a big factor

in the success of the wall in Israel. According to the numbers published by Israels Ministry of

the Interior, there were about seventeen thousand illegal immigrants that entered Israel in the

year 2011. That number shrunk in as little as two years. In 2013, they recorded a mere 43 illegal

immigrants. This is a huge reason for building the wall along Mexican-American border. With

530,250 illegal immigration apprehensions in 2015, the United States suffers from heavy illegal

immigration every year. In the case of Israel, there is a clear correlation between the wall

construction and the drop in illegal immigration. If this could be applied to the United States, the

correlation could make a huge impact in the amount of illegal immigrants that are admitted every

year. Lowering this number would help the American economy by a considerable amount.

Limiting immigration would lead to a decrease in the low-skill workforce (Borjas, par. 5).

According to data conducted by the Census, immigrants lacking a high school diploma

contributed to around 25% of the low-skilled workforce.

On the other side, someone's low wages are the higher profit of someone else (Borja par.

5) There must be considerations for the obstacles that Israel faced versus the obstacles that the

United States might face when trying to block off Mexico. Being that the American wall would
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have to be almost 14 times longer than the Israeli wall. This would make it harder to patrol

(Esteban Flores 11-12) The cost of increasing border control on top of the cost for building the

actual wall would be a massive blow to the American economy.

Environmental concerns are also worth taking a look at when thinking about building a

wall across a vast ecological important desert. It has been found that the wall construction would

cut off important habitats for indigenous species that live in those lands (Fisher 149). This would

force the Environmental Protective Agency to spend big to make sure those habitats are

protected.

Although the Trump administration projects the spending to be between eight and $15

billion dollars, the Department of Homeland Security projects the wall to be $21.6 billion.

Maintenance is projected to be $750 million per year (Leary 146). With all these expenses the

question transitions to: who will pay for this? With the reassurance of Mexican President Enrique

Pea Nieto that Mexico will not pay for the wall, President Trump plans to implement a 20%

border tax on imports from Mexico. If this tax is implemented, the prices on every import from

Mexico would increase for American people. Both Mexican producers and American consumers

would feel the burden of the tariff implemented in this case.

There is evidence to support that building a border wall between the United States and

Mexico might in fact be beneficial to the United States. But there is a strong argument as to why

the border wall would be a waste in money. The relationship between Mexico and the United

States has always been shaky since the times of the Mexican-American war. One thing is for

certain, both countries need each other for trade, support, and economics.
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Bibliography

Flores, Esteban. "Walls of Separation: An Analysis of Three 'Successful' Border Walls."

Harvard International Review, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 10-12

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=123620519&site=ehost-live.

Accessed 27 July 2017

Miller, Todd. Beyond Trumps Big, Beautiful Wall. NACLA Report on the Americas,

4 9:2, 145-151, http://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714839.2017.1331805

Accessed 28 July 2017.

Fisher, David. The U.S.Mexico Border Wall and the Case for Environmental Rights.

The International Law Journal. Vol. 50 Iss. 1.

2017.http://www.tilj.org/content/journal/50/14%20FISHER%20PUBLICATION.pdf

Accessed 26 July

Leary, John Patrick. "Decoding Build the Wall: What Liberal Critics Miss." NACLA

Report on the Americas, vol. 49, no. 2, June 2017, pp. 146-148. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1080/10714839.2017.1331808.

Borjas, George. Yes Immigration Hurts American Worker Politico Magazine.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-u

nemployment-jobs-214216. Accessed 29 July 2017

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