The first three words that usually come up when someone mentions “Donald Trump” is something along the lines of “Build that Wall” or “Mexico will Pay.” He premised his entire campaign on this creation of a “wall” between the US and Mexico to supposedly deter illegal immigration and conservatives rallied behind his call. When Trump first announced this grand plan, the majority of America scoffed at him. After all, he couldn’t actually believe that Mexico would pay for a concrete wall along their border. However, this issue is no longer a laughing matter. We are in the midst of the longest government shutdown with seemingly no solution to this problem. No matter what, I firmly believe that the Democrats need to stand their ground and not give in to a 5.7 billion dollar toy of the child in office.

The negative effects of the wall far outweigh any sort of benefits it might have. First of all, the building of the wall would completely obliterate our already fragile relations with Mexico. Especially with the USMCA (United States- Mexico- Canada Agreement) waiting for approval from all sides, Mexico and US relations are more important than ever. On January 2017, Megan Casella from Politico claimed that Trump’s plan for a border wall could trigger a global trade war with not only Mexico but other trading partners. The impacts of such a trade war would be disastrous as consumers would be helpless from the rising prices and small businesses could be put out of business.

Furthermore, the wall on its face is a complete symbol of racism and dehumanization. It seems to send a message that all Mexicans are criminals. Fabi Rodriguez powerfully illustrates his perception of the wall as a Mexican citizen and calls it racist and xenophobic. He points out the lack of serious border enforcement along the US-Canada border and claims that the reason only the US-Mexico border is being heavily enforced is to “keep the brown people out.” The wall itself perpetuates the US’s history of xenophobia and sends a message of making America white again.

Finally, there are very little benefits to actually building this wall itself. Although Trump tried to use statistics during his last presidential address to justify his wall, in reality, these numbers are inflated and misleading. First of all, not all of illegal immigration comes from crossing the border illegally as Trump may want you to think. According to Politifact, almost 50% of “illegal” aliens come from visa overstays. They come to the US legally with a visa and just stay longer than they’re visa accounts for. Furthermore, a border wall would likely do very little to stop the flow of drugs from Mexico into the US unlike Trump claims. Most of drugs smuggled into the US aren’t at open spots along the border but through formal points of entry. The high value drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine are hidden in vehicles that legally cross through the border. A creation of a wall would do little to prevent this. Additionally, there are also tunnels underneath the border that cartels use to transport drugs that would again largely be unaffected by a border wall. The wall would fail to stop any of these issues that Trump claims it’ll solve.

In conclusion, the border wall between the US and Mexico and a disastrous idea and should never come into fruition. It doesn’t actually accomplish any of the goals it's meant to, completely destroys diplomatic relations on a global scale, and is a symbol of racism, nativism, and xenophobia. We shouldn’t give this absolute excuse of a president 5.7 billion dollars just because he’s throwing a temper tantrum.