In November, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, the pact that ended the “War to End all Wars.” The French were, correctly, unconvinced that another catastrophic war could not occur. Their fear of another German invasion led them to create a great defensive barrier that would keep any German army out. They spent billons of Francs and 10 years to build a series of concrete fortresses called the Maginot Line. This, a majority of the French believed, would prevent an onslaught of militarized Germans from entering their homeland.
They were wrong, of course. The Maginot Line was probably the least effective defensive system ever built. The invading Nazi armies simply went around it in their 1940 blitzkrieg, and France fell.
Today, with a 35-day government shutdown failing to provide any resolution, Donald Trump still insists on building another Maginot Line. The Mexico border wall would, the president insists, protect America’s security from hordes of Hispanics invading our nation. The cost would be in the billions, and just like the Maginot Line built by the French in the 1930s, it would be a total waste of taxpayer dollars. Nearly every expert agrees that it would be utterly ineffective.
Those wanting in bad enough will climb a wall or tunnel under it. That is a given. But even that fact ignores the most basic of realities, one of which is this: It would cost less and be more effective to utilize technology and more manpower to control the border.
Fact is, the French had every reason to fear a German invasion. The United States has no such fear from our southern neighbors. Mexican and Latin American hordes are not invading our nation. They are not, as the president would have you believe, armed thugs, rapists and terrorists. They are impoverished and/or threatened families seeking a safer and better life in what Ronald Reagan deemed, the “Great City on the Hill.” You may recall that Reagan’s views were diametrically opposite of Trump’s. Reagan famously said we needed to tear down walls, not build them.
Furthermore, there is not, as the president would have you believe, an actual problem with Hispanics entering our country. For a decade, there has been a greater exodus of Hispanics out of the United States than the numbers entering. The largest number of “illegal aliens” are those who have entered the country legally and overstayed their visas.
Now, for the real shocker: The largest number of such people are Canadians. That, of course, does not bother Trump because those Canadians look like you and me. And herein lies a major unspoken factor in the immigration issue: race.
A popular talking point is that these interlopers will take away our jobs. But that, too, is a poor argument. First, unemployment is low, yet jobs are going unfilled for lack of qualified workers. The most ardent racist might argue that the Hispanics should take our menial-labor jobs so that the American government could train our white brothers and sisters for the unfilled, better jobs.
Secondly, and more importantly, we need the influx of labor these immigrants represent. Ours is an aging population. America’s birth rate is in such a decline it is nearly unsustainable. I don’t have to worry about Social Security and Medicare, but your children might. Your grandchildren definitely should worry. Furthermore, our future economy will not be able to grow without immigration. We will not be able to create new jobs if our birth rate can’t produce sufficient labor. To put it bluntly, without an increase in immigration, our future is grim.
There you have it. A wall is the wrong answer for a non-problem. Building the wall, Mr. President, would be nothing but an empty symbol.
Michael Adkins formerly was chairman of the Hancock County Democratic Party. You can write to him at [email protected]. Send comments to dr-editorial@greenfield reporter.com.
