[tptacek]

We already have policies that have demonstrably curbed unauthorized immigration over our southern border. Unauthorized land crossings have plummeted since 2000. You are again just a few Google searches away from the numbers. The wall is in almost every sense symbolic, and will not address the concern it is meant to address.

Again: it's annoying that we'd consider investing billions of dollars in a make-work project that really serves as nothing but a giant monument to racism --- couldn't we just paint the statue of liberty white, or something? --- but the real issue with the wall isn't moral, it's that it's a gigantic waste of money. It won't even prevent unauthorized immigration over our southern border, because that's not how unauthorized immigration works.

[postcarnival]

If the wall is so "symbolic", what do you care if it's (further) built?

[tptacek]

I don't, really, except for the gigantic waste of money it represents. Why do you want that money spent?

[postcarnival]

It's just a deterrent, part of a broader restrengthening of our nations' sovereignty imo. It sends a message. The amount of money is quite small when compared to real sources of government debt such as entitlements or the military.