Not Alan wrote:
SDSU Aztec wrote:
The USMAC is not contingent on a wall being built, so any revenue generated by the agreement is irrelevant to the cost of a wall. It would be like saying additional revenue from Trump's Tariff war with China would justify more military spending.
The only way Mexico will pay for the wall is if they give us a $25B check.
Good gosh. Some people are just so literal. I get it, some people will be unhappy until Mexico hands over a $25B check. Of course they won’t but that doesn’t mean they won’t begin to bear some of the cost of illegal immigration into our country. Part of the USMCA negotiation I am sure involved persuading Mexico to play a bigger role in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants. Already Mexico has indicated that they will house illegals in Mexico pending adjudication of asylum requests. This absolves the US of the costs of doing so, not to mention healthcare, education costs, etc.
We keep obsessing about the man and hating, while taking eyes off of doing the right thing from a policy standpoint. Illegal immigration is a huge cost to this country, and there will be costs to controlling and deterring illegal immigration. A wall is an effective deterrent. It is not foolproof and needs to be supplemented by other measures (drones, etc). What we truly need is comprehensive reform and end catch and release but realistically that will never happen so long as politician inhabit DC. Until then, a wall is a bare necessity
It's a fact that the wall has nothing to do with the USMCA. Maybe Mexico has agreed to take a bigger role in stemming the flow of immigrants coming to the U.S., but it did not agree to pay for the wall.
Whether or not a wall should be built is a stand alone decision. It should be based on what strategy is the most cost effective way to secure the border and Trump has never provided a study that supports building a wall. He has tried to justify it by saying that drones are fun, wheels can't be improved upon and that there are walls around Obama's home and the Vatican. He's going to have to do better than that to get congress to approve $5.6B.