Will Trump Really Build A Wall?

By

Cliff Graham

Politicians are known for making promises during their campaigns for office that they have no intention of keeping. Even politicians who intend to keep their promises often find that the political system in Washington D.C. makes it impossible for them to keep their word after they are elected.

During the 2016 election cycle, presidential candidate Donald J. Trump made many promises including the promise to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. A major part of Trump’s immigration reform plan involved his pledge to build a wall along the country’s southern border and have Mexico pay for it.

Well, it turns out that President Trump has every intention of building a wall along the almost 2,000 mile border with Mexico. During his first week as president, Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders designed to carry out his campaign promises. On Wednesday, January 25th, 2017, President Trump gave a speech before the Department of Homeland Security where he stated, “Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders.”

The executive orders President Trump signed on Wednesday directed the Department of Homeland Security to immediately begin construction on a physical wall between the United States and Mexico. This news sent shock waves through the community of immigrant activists who doubted Trump’s intention of actually carrying out the hard-line immigration policies he espoused during his political campaign for president. These executive orders eliminated all doubt about Trump’s seriousness about fixing the county’s broken immigration system. The construction of the wall is one only one of Trump’s many promises he told the American people during his campaign.

Although it will take a few months before the actual construction of the wall can begin, the planning for the project can begin immediately. Unfortunately, President Trump’s executive orders do not address the issue of how to pay for the cost of the border wall. Trump has insisted that he would make Mexico reimburse the U.S. taxpayers for the cost of building the wall. Mexican government officials steadfastly deny that Mexico will pay for the wall. No matter how the situation with Mexico plays out, President Trump will most likely have to go to Congress for the money needed to construct the wall.

The cost estimates of building the wall vary greatly. Some estimates place the cost of the wall at between $15 Billion and $40 billion. Trump has claimed in the past that he could build the wall for between $8 billion and $10 billion. Whatever the cost of the wall, it should be remembered that these construction costs would be offset to some extent by a reduction in welfare and other expenses incurred because of illegal immigration.

The executive orders President Trump signed on January 25th also called for the hiring of 5,000 more Border Patrol agents and 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. These bold executive actions aimed at enforcing the immigration laws of the United States unquestionably demonstrate President Trump’s commitment to keeping his campaign promises to Americans.

President Trump demonstrated his support of the Department of Homeland Security by providing it with the tools and resources that it needs to protect the American people. President Trump is definitely going to build a wall to secure our nation’s southern border.

Cliff Graham

Cliff hails from New York City where he is a marketing associate by day and blogger by night. He is a sports and political fanatic who often tries to marry the two in his writing. You can reach out to him at [email protected].