Trump’s hateful rhetoric

Ko Saavedra

Staff Writer

The United States has been the country that people view as the “dream”. More so in the past than recently. This is a county that people view as a place for a new start. Where they can support their families, flee from violent countries, and become true hard-working Americans. The foundation of the Unites States is built on the backs of those working for better and better lives.

Donald Trump ran his presidential campaign with one of his biggest selling points being a “border wall”. Stating that we must keep out “criminals and rapists” from entering our country. He spewed a hateful rhetoric along with the notion that Mexico would pay for the wall fully. Due to unreasonable lies that were told during his campaign and Mexico never being willing to pay, Trump looked towards using taxpayer dollars to build his promised “wall”. This has ultimately caused a partial government shutdown a democrats ae refusing to fund something that would be ineffective and immoral.

When it comes to whether a border wall will be effective, it is naïve for us to think so or even support the idea. According to NBC News in a 2014 study, 66 percent of illegal immigrants came with legal visas, but overstayed them illegally. With such a large majority of immigrants entering the United States legal but staying illegally, why should government funding go towards a wall, instead of more viable programs such as healthcare, education, etc?

When it comes to the immigrants themselves, Donald Trump and the GOP use false crime rates and protection of the country as to why border security is needed. According to a study by the Cato Institute in 2018 in the state of Texas, per 100,000 citizens, undocumented immigrants were more than half as likely to commit a crime as natives. Native-born citizens would commit 3.9 homicide crimes than Illegal immigrants 2.9 (per 100,000) and 290 larceny crimes compared to their undocumented counterparts 60 (per 100,00). All crimes are even lower for immigrants that arrived here legally.

As the United States tackles the issue of immigration, there must be a better approach. As a country that was created by immigrants, why must others be rejected? When facts show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native born citizens, why must we fall into lies and unreasonable fears? Why refuse the opportunity for better to those who fear for their lives? If we let the actions of very few people decide our views upon a whole group, we must look more at how the world views the United States. Would we want to be seen as racists, family destroyers, or even war wagers for the actions of a select few? That is what we must ask ourselves and we must choose who we want to be as a country.