Republican president-elect Donald Trump spent a great deal of campaign time promising to build a wall along the U.S. southern border. “That wall just got ten feet higher,” was a popular response used by Trump in his quest for the White House; insisting all along that Mexico itself would foot the bill for the gargantuan barrier. Republicans in Congress seem eager to get the project underway however; unwilling to wait for Mexico to pay up, they are pursuing ways to fund the wall internally. It’s also important to note that Mexico hasn’t been so enthusiastic about fulfilling these campaign promises from Mr. Trump. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox recently tweeted the following:
Trump may ask whoever he wants, but still neither myself nor Mexico are going to pay for his racist monument.
Another promise he can’t keep.— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 6, 2017
Republicans in Congress seem to understand that the likelihood of the Mexican government explicitly paying for the wall is extremely low. If Trump wants it to happen, the U.S. government will probably have to finance the project — at least at first.
“I’m not sure anyone believed the government of Mexico was going to write a giant check to the federal registry, but there are other ways to ensure Mexico does pay for the border build-out,” said Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.), chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. “There are broad conversations about fulfilling all of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises.”
Trump’s people have estimated that the project could cost anywhere between $12-38 billion dollars to complete construction on the wall — contingent upon many factors — and that is what they are expected to ask Congress to supply during the early days of his presidency. Kellyanne Conway (Trump’s campaign manager and advisor) made these comments regarding the situation:
“Obviously a centerpiece of Donald Trump’s successful campaign was, ‘I’m going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it,’” said advisor Kellyanne Conway on “Fox and Friends.” “That hasn’t changed, but Congress is examining ways to have the wall paid for through their auspices and Mr. Trump is making the point that he will have Mexico pay it back.”
What do you think? Should the U.S. build an actual wall along the border with Mexico? Are there other ways to curb illegal immigration or have those all been pursued to no effect? Let us know your thoughts on Facebook or in the comments below.
