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Trump’s border wall is impractical and detrimental to students

I’ll be honest; I’m no political science major, but you don’t need a degree to acknowledge that President Donald Trump’s inability to compromise is equivalent to a toddler not getting what they want.

It’s unsurprising that President Trump continues to fight for his wall, but why should a wall be an important issue to citizens of Long Beach and students of Long Beach State? Well, as of 2016 Long Beach’s population was composed of 209,148 Hispanic/Latino residents with 86.5 percent of the total residents identifying as non-citizens.

This translates to approximately 44.5 percent of the entire city’s population, meaning a huge portion of residents could potentially be affected by Trump’s border wall if it were to happen. The concept hits even closer to home with non-resident LBSU students which, according to a common data sheet released by the school, constitutes roughly 2,064 students as of 2018.

A physical border wall would impose immense and unnecessary amounts of stress on students who may already fear their status in the U.S. It would also make visitations to family across the hypothetical wall difficult and strain students’ relationships with their families.

Non-citizen students who may already be experiencing other issues in their life do not need the added stress of trying to figure out how to conquer a steel wall physically dividing them from their home. Yet Trump refuses to budge, seeking only to fulfill the promise he made to his “congregation.”

Despite blaming Democratic leadership for the government shutdown experienced late 2018 and early 2019, Trump insisted he would do anything to secure funding to “make America great again.” That “anything” included shutting down the government for 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019 due to his inability to reach an understanding with congress and declaring a state of national emergency.

Trump also said he would veto any legislative action taken against himself and his precious wall; despite settling on a deal that allots a little over $1 billion in spending toward border security.

What makes the entire situation absolutely ludacris is the fact that Congress said in a meeting on Dec. 21 that they were willing to fund increased border security and has agreed that such matters are reasonably important.

Essentially, Trump’s behavior is identical to that of a little kid throwing a fit because their parents wouldn’t buy them a new toy.

Perhaps Trump’s most persistent rhetoric is that he, as well as the rest of the American population, needs a border wall. According to Trump, the wall is vital to detering the influx of Mexican, South and Central American immigrants from their countries of origin.

Trump has made numerous claims that Mexico specifically is bringing “rapists” and “bad hombres” at an alarming rate into the United States. Finding no other scapegoat, Trump has placed blame for criminal activity in the United States on Southern immigrants.

Yet, according to an article by Maria Sacchetti for the Washington Post, this has proved to be entirely untrue. Rather, approximately 63 percent of detainees in the ICE’s facilities as of February 9 were found to be unconvicted and lacking criminal background or history of law infractions. This means the majority of individuals being detained and deported are not criminals, but rather people who were simply not born in the United States.

Sacchetti’s article is extremely important and essential in understanding the logic, or lack of, behind Trump’s wall fiasco.

Instead of grossly abusing his authority in order to perpetuate racism, Trump should put on his big boy pants and realize a border wall is not beneficial and will drastically impact students and the families of students in schools all over the nation.

Though the House voted on Feb. 25 for a resolution that would work to successfully combat Trump’s idea of a national emergency, if Trump has proved to be anything it is persistent. It is important for students to understand that this is a man who is prepared to anything to reach his goal.

It seems there is only one solution; to quote a great SNL skit, my name is Sabrina “impeach that motherfucker” Flores and thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

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