President Donald Trump swore to his supporters to build a wall between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Mexico). Such a feat would require massive amounts of concrete and private land. Not to mention construction on or near the hot desert, rugged areas, and billions and billions of dollars. Even if this giant brick stands, how is it going to affect the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)? Since the U.S. and Mexico both belong to those organizations, alienating Mexico with Trump’s wall will hurt these alliances. All in all, America building a wall in front of their allies and making one of the allies pay for it is a disastrous idea, and there are three key reasons why.

Let’s focus on the border which the wall is built on. First of all, the border isn’t really land; it’s a river. The Río Grande borders the entire area of the U.S-Mexico border. Some people may say, “I see fencing posts on my TV.” But an immigrant has to cross the river and onto the border to cross the fence. Traveling to the border is already difficult.

People may still say, “But hey, there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S right now. We need to build a wall to prevent future people coming in.” Ok, what do we need to build a wall? Trump estimates that the cost of the wall to be from 10 to 12 billion dollars. However, fact checkers and critics think otherwise. One reason is much of the border is private land. The government has to negotiate trade deals with the owners and may have to use force. That means that the U.S might have to use its military on its own people. Since areas of the border have uneven terrain, it will be more expensive to build in those rugged areas. Based on these factors, The Washington Post estimates Trump’s wall will cost 25 billion dollars, more than twice the amount than Trump estimated. The wall also requires 339 million cubic feet of concrete which has to be produced by local slabs near the border. This will take four years to build, and given the controversy of the wall, it may end up not finished during Trump’s term(s). This means that if a different president comes to power. He/she can create an executive order to take down the wall.

Let’s say we have the money for to build the wall. (because Mexico will not pay for it no matter how many times Trump tries) We’ll also ignore the fact that the U.S is in 19 trillion dollars of debt. How will this wall fare any better than previous walls in the past? With this in mind, I will take you to the Walls of Fame.

The Great Wall of China: 13,170 miles of stone, brick, and wood placed high on the mountains, took thousands of years to build and became obsolete as China expanded.

The Wall of Constantinople: 14 miles long, constant soldier guard, and even a moat, was wiped out by the Ottoman Empire using a new weapon called, “the cannon”.

The Berlin Wall: 45,000 sections of reinforced concrete (12 feet long, three feet wide each), 79 miles of fencing, 300 watchtowers, more than 250 guard dog runs, 20 bunkers, 65 miles of anti-vehicle trenching (surely this will work), let 5,000 people escape from East Berlin to West Berlin (Nevermind). 

The GREAT Trump Wall: Three hundred thirty-nine million cubic feet of concrete stretched more 1,000 miles of the U.S - Mexico border, even said by Trump to have a “big, fat, beautiful door”,  is the stupidest idea man has thought of to solve his problems.

After viewing our wall of fame, you see that previous walls in history did not solve the problem of invaders/immigrants effectively. Even walls like the Berlin Wall, with all the security, still had 5,000 people escape compared with the mere 100 casualties (this is a 50:1 ratio which means every death by the Berlin Wall lets 50 people through). How did they escape? It’s simple; they went over, under, around, and through the wall. Some used hot air balloons or airplanes, others drove through the wall, and some simply jumped over it from a rooftop. Even if you eliminate all those problems, people find a way to get past it. The Ottomans used a cannon (which was a new weapon at the time) to break down the walls. It’s only a matter of time people will get past Trump’s wall as well.

Let’s move on to the bigger picture. Walls not only serve a physical purpose, but a symbolic purpose as well. The Berlin Wall for example, signified the Cold War and the division of capitalism versus communism. Trump’s wall can signify America’s defiance against Mexico, NAFTA, and NATO. Countries begin to question Trump’s motives and oppose from him. Mexico is one of the U.S.A’s best trade partners (13.2 percent of the total trade with the U.S). Think about it: Mexico has to pay for a wall which benefits America more than Mexico itself because Mexico is dumped with 11 million illegal immigrants. These are not actions of allies. Building a wall could, at the worst case scenario, create wars and destroy the world’s balance.

Building a wall won’t help anyone, especially America.