Why walls don't work anymore
I was a Foreign Service Officer in 1993, working in the Office of Mexican Affairs at the State Department in Washington, when the NAFTA trade deal was being negotiated. There were many details to be discussed, not just related to trade.
We had conversations about pollution from factories that were built in Mexico near the border; prisoner exchanges and law enforcement; transporting goods and inspecting trucks; and working conditions for employees inside Mexican factories, to name a few. It was a time of collaboration, supported by a recognition that our futures were tied closely because we were neighbors.
We also knew that the existing wall along stretches of the border was ineffective and dangerous. It's been said that building a 14-foot wall just creates a market for 16-foot ladders. Where stretches of the wall are next to highways, immigrants climbing over must dart across lanes of traffic, making it hazardous for drivers too. There are several tunnels that bypass the wall; there are parts of the wall leading into the sea that swimmers can get around; and smuggling can still occur even at legal crossings.
Building the wall is a distraction, and a diversion of resources from other more needed projects. Immigrants are not taking jobs from Americans. With unemployment at less than 4 percent, our country is experiencing labor shortages and especially in labor intensive industries like construction and agriculture.
Now is the time for Congress to draw up comprehensive immigration reform, including an increase in the number of legal visas, the reinstatement of a temporary worker program, and a path to citizenship for those who meet the criteria.
There are many better uses for the money it would take to build a wall. But most upsetting about the idea of building a wall along the 3,000-mile border is not its ineffectiveness, or its symbolism of collaboration replaced by hostility, or even its expense and the opportunity cost that goes with it.
It is the mistaken belief that walls shut out problems. It is turning inward, putting self interest first, in the false hope that we can be insulated from the fortunes of other countries, from their economic failures, outbreaks of diseases, and environmental and natural disasters.
It is the false belief that, in an era when cyberattacks are ever more prevalent and terrorism is just as likely to be homegrown as foreign, that we are somehow more “safe” with a physical wall. It ignores the increasing mobility of people and goods (both legally and illegally) to travel by air and sea. It is the equivalent of fighting the last war, harkening back to a time when people and vehicles traveled only by land.
The symbol of today’s political, economic and cultural environment is a web — the world wide web — not a wall. Like it or not, we are connected as never before. The internet, with its rapid dissemination of news and information, along with its challenges to privacy and security, increasingly connects us. Political upheavals impact the international financial system and increase immigration pressures from refugees around the world. Environmental degradation of our oceans, our air and climate impact every country and cannot be stopped by tariffs or walls.
But connection also brings a great deal of good. Doctors in remote parts of the world can have x-rays evaluated by specialists in other countries, academic research can be internationally collaborative, innovation and great ideas can be shared instantly, computer technicians can trouble shoot with clients all over the world, and goods and services travel more easily, raising the quality of life for billions of people.
Over 4,000 years ago, the Chinese built a wall to keep out invaders; today it is a crumbled ruin. The Soviets built a wall in Berlin and eastern Europe to keep capitalist ideas out and keep their citizens from leaving. That wall came down in 1989.
Walls are no longer a solution. It is time to focus our resources on real 21st century issues and opportunities and quit distracting the American people with false—and expensive —so-called security solutions. Mr. Trump, tear down that wall.
This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 8:54 AM.