Defiance Students on ‘The Wall’

The political scheme of the United States has been at a standstill due to ‘the Wall’ and the students of Defiance College have offered some of their opinions on the issue.

The students at Defiance seemed to share mixed opinions on the Wall issue. During a break between classes, students were interviewed in the cafeteria regarding their feelings on the Wall. Students stated a desire for anonymity regarding their answers. Due to this, student names and other identifiers have been removed.

One student stated that she has “no idea about any details or anything on it because I live under a rock.” While this student did not have much to say on her solution to the Wall issue, others had plenty.

One student spoke in support of building the Wall explaining that, in reference to the money spent on illegal immigrants in recent years, “it would save us money in the long run because we have spent over 21 billion in each of the last two years, so over 42 billion”. The student also stated that “it would keep our country safer as a whole without drugs coming into it, not saying every immigrant is bad but making sure they are at least cleared through a checkpoint would be nice.”

Other students did not share the support. One student stated that the only way to fix the problem would be to “build a time machine, travel to the past, and then not vote for Donald Trump to be our president.” Another student believes that the money for the wall would be better spent on programs such as “health care, funding for job placement and job security, children in poverty and education.” Other students concurred that education would be a more suitable place for the money spent on the Wall.

   And finally, one student, a member of the Army National Guard, stated that “I will support the decisions the country makes. However, this Wall seems immoral to me. We are supposed to be the great American melting pot, a place where everyone is welcome to find their freedom. Building a Wall takes away those freedoms”.

   The executive order for ‘the Wall’ was issued on January 25th of  2017 by President Donald Trump. The goal of this order was to make sure that immigration laws were being upheld and protect the country as per President Trump’s executive order. To secure the Southern border, the executive order calls for immediate construction of a physical Wall to prevent illegal aliens from entering into the country. The creation of such a Wall is expensive, as Trump acknowledges and addresses, stating the government would “allocate all sources of Federal funds for the planning, designing, and constructing of a physical Wall along the southern border.”

   Students are offering up their opinions on a huge political debate. The students interviewed held a variety of different thoughts on the topic while also sharing in similarities when it came to where they believed the money should go.

Written by Jordan Osborne