Dec 30, 2018 5 min read

Recently, President Trump invited the Democratic leadership, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, to the Oval Office to have what they thought was a private discussion about upcoming issues. Vice President Mike Pence was also there, though his presence was easily forgotten, since, oddly, he did not participate in any of the discussion (he is not even mentioned in the transcript). It was as if he were not there (and he certainly looked like he did not want to be there). Trump surprised the Democrats by having the press record the interview, which created an odd dynamic in which Trump seemed to ignore Pelosi (until she mentioned “the Trump shutdown”) and talk to Schumer, while Schumer seemed to be talking to the cameras. But the strangeness of the exchange aside, Trump did double down on his demands for a border wall.

And as presidents wont, he both bragged about how much of the wall was already built and what a great job it was doing, but at the same time declared: “This is a national emergency. Drugs are pouring into our country. People with tremendous medical difficulty and medical problems are pouring in, and in many – in many cases, it’s contagious. They’re pouring into our country. We have to have border security. We have to have a wall as part of border security.”

Trump seems to like being on camera, which makes sense, given his experience as a reality TV star. Tactically, Schumer and Pelosi easily outmaneuvered Trump, getting him to take responsibility for shutting down the government if he doesn’t get his wall. Responding to Schumer’s persistence that Trump would be responsible for any shutdown, Trump proclaimed, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country.” While most political analysts see this as a strategic win for Democrats, Trump is not a normal politician, and may see his claiming responsibility for the shutdown as something that will be popular with his base (showing the courage to stand up to the Democrats who are soft on border security).

But there is more to the presidency than political theater. Trump has equated a “big beautiful wall” with border security, which is wrong. No one denies that the U.S. should have secure borders. The difference is on the importance of a 30-foot wall in securing the border. Some areas (urban areas such as San Diego or El Paso) need a physical barrier (a fence or wall) because without a barrier, it would be impossible to control the flow of people across the border. In other areas any barrier, much less a 30-foot concrete wall, would be a waste of money, for a number of reasons. First, drug traffickers don’t usually carry drugs across the border on foot in the middle of nowhere; they normally come through regular ports of entry in vehicles or containers, which are much more logistically effective. So building a 30-foot wall in remote areas of the border will be a colossal waste of money (the cost of Trump’s wall is estimated at more than $21 billion). It would be like the Maginot Line the French built after World War I to stop another potential German invasion, except it would be even more wasteful, since at least the Maginot Line was built on a route the Germans had actually used to invade (and of course, the wall didn’t work; in WWII, the Germans simply went around the it).

Trump acts like without a wall, the border is essentially open. But this is also not true. In the late 1990s, an eight to 10-foot-high corrugated steel fence was constructed on some of the urban parts of the border. In 2006, the Secure Borders Act built a large metal fence along 650 miles of the most accessible parts of the border. While a wall may discourage some immigrants from entering the U.S., most undocumented immigrants enter legally through normal ports of entry, and overstay their visas (so a wall won’t help this situation). And immigrants don’t bring disease; immigrants are generally healthier than native born Americans (immigration is difficult, so the sick don’t usually attempt it).

The border would be made more secure by reducing the pressures that encourage people to try to cross illegally. The U.S. could support economic development and efforts to increase security in the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), as well as help Mexico secure its southern border (which is much shorter than the U.S.-Mexico border). Sending additional resources and personnel to process asylum claims would prevent immigrants waiting for months in Mexico to be processed legally from becoming so desperate that they try to cross illegally (as some did in the recent “assault” on the border where the border patrol used tear gas). And finally, real immigration reform that would allow immigrants to come in an orderly and predictable way would obviate the need for desperate people to attempt to immigrate illegally.

In short, building a wall has little to do with border security and more to do with political theater aimed to please his base. In addition, why is Trump even asking Congress for money to build the wall, since time and time again, he told his crowds that Mexico was going to pay for it? Shutting down the government to pay for an unnecessary wall are the actions of a toddler, threatening to hold his breath until he turns blue unless he gets what he wants, not the actions of a responsible world leader.

Kent James is an East Washington residents and has degrees in history and policy management from Carnegie Mellon University.