Trump to address the US

Perhaps if he got his act together and organised to have the thousands of border control positions filled that are unfilled now, before asking for money for what is pretty much disproved as a "fix", then some people might take him a little more seriously.

Border Patrol has thousands of openings it can't fill - CNNPolitics

And will Trump next ask for a northern border wall?

Amid focus on immigration from south, illegal crossings from Canada surge

He's backed himself into a corner and wants to save face at the expense of the US taxpayers. He never learned the word "no". I blame his parents.

 

Trump could have had his wall when he had the Republicans behind him. He could have had all $25B for it, last year, in return for giving Dreamers an amnesty. He wasn't going to let that happen. It's not only that he wants his wall, he wants it without giving amnesty. A three year stay of execution is not enough.

But there are people who don't even want to give another three years to people who came to the US when they were young, many of whom know no other country or culture.

 

It worked for Hungary in a different situation.

Europe was having masses of refugees from the Middle East (the highest number from Syria, then Afghanistan, then Iraq). These people were in Serbia, trying to get asylum in the Schengen Visa area. Hungary was bearing the brunt of the crisis, which had only really scald up in 2015. So Hungary built 175 km of razor wire fence to keep them out. They later declared a state of emergency; built some more fences; and sent soldiers to patrol the borders.

So more refugees were kept out of Hungary.

While it's not documented where the refugees went, I suspect that they just went to other European countries rather than going back to where they came from.

So this was a case where a comparatively small border fence was effective, as there were alternative destinations for the refugees. It's possible that Hungary, in keeping people out, merely transferred the responsibility to other countries, making the problem worse there.

European migrant crisis - Wikipedia

This is quite a different situation from the US southern border, where there is no alternative; where the border is far longer; and where illegal entries have been dropping massively. Far more illegal immigration is now happening from visa overstayers arriving by plane.

Drugs aren't coming in across the border where there's no fence, They're coming in on vehicles arriving legally, on planes, by sea, or even by mail (the source of much fetanyl arriving from China).

A border wall in the US would be far more costly and far less effective.

They have walls around Palestinian areas in Israel as well. They are effective. In keeping people in. It's a short term solution- I think there will be an increasing problem caused by Palestinian anger as they continue to be controlled. While it's not necessarily a symptom, seeing kids coming out of the mosque in Jerusalem carrying toy AK-47s doesn't bode well for a peaceful coexistence.

 

I don't know about complexity. They are two entirely different situations. A 175km razor wire fence was effective for a one-off situation which had arisen very quickly.

I don't believe the US wall will be a cost-effective way to solve their problems. "Reduce drugs and crime" - probably by very little. Perhaps it will block some people - but nowhere near as many people as visa control, for instance, would block.

Drug control would be far more effective by addressing the demand for drugs- Jared is supposed to be working on that. Trump's criminal justice reform bill is a good first step in addressing crime.