Illegal immigration is an important issue facing the country — which is in part why President Trump was elected — but any sensible solution must start with one thing: building the wall.
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer explains in PragerU’s latest video that it is necessary to legalize the 11 million illegal immigrants residing in the country, but it can only be done if there is less incentive for people to enter the country illegally. After amnesty for almost three million illegals was implemented in 1986, no physical barrier was constructed along the border, causing the illegal immigrant population to swell to 11 million since many immigrants believed that amnesty would happen again.
Krauthammer argued that if people could be assured that future illegal immigration could be curtailed following legalization, there would be more of “a national consensus behind it.”
That’s where the wall comes into play.
“Build a barrier,” Krauthammer said. “Call it a wall. Call it a fence. Call it what you will. Add cameras and sensors. Add drones. Beef up the patrols. All that matters is that we regain control of the border.”
Krauthammer added:
Fences work. The triple fence outside San Diego led to a 90 percent reduction in infiltration. Israel’s border fence with the West Bank produced a similar decline. Even holier-than-thou Europeans have conceded the point: Hungary, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Austria, Greece, Spain — why, even Norway — have all started building border fences to stem the tide of Middle Eastern refugees.
The columnist also advocated for an E-Verify system to prevent illegals from working in the country and a way to properly track visas “since 40% of illegal immigrants are visa overstays.”
Krauthammer proceeded to debunk the asinine argument that America’s wall would be the equivalent of the Berlin Wall.
“When you build a wall to keep people in, that’s a prison,” Krauthammer said. “When you build a wall to keep people out, that’s an expression of sovereignty.”
Krauthammer acknowledged that the wall wouldn’t completely curtail illegal immigration, but it would cause a dramatic enough decline to bring the focus solely on what to do with the 11 million illegals already in the country.
“If we do it right, not only will we solve the problem, we will get it done as one nation,” Krauthammer concluded.
The full video can be seen below: