The Wall
Warning: This article is a personal political observation
Background
The Berlin Wall
After WWII, Berlin was divided into four Allied occupation zones. The Soviet Zone later became East Berlin.
Both postwar German states were founded in the year the Airlift ended: 1949. The former Soviet occupation zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) on October 7, 1949. Only months earlier, the other three Allied zones had become the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG – May 23, 1949). Hitler’s war had now resulted in a divided Germany: the GDR (East Germany) and the FRG (West Germany), setting the stage for the physical barrier that would be known as the Berlin Wall (die Berliner Mauer) and would stand as an ugly scar on the German landscape from August 1961 until November 1989.
The Mexican-American Wall
History of the Wall
Establishment and Policing of the U.S.-Mexico Border The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, with the cession of land to the United States, ended the Mexican-American War and set forth an agreed-upon boundary line between the United States and Mexico. The physical demarcation of the boundary was essentially set by the Gadsden Purchase, finalized in 1854, with some minor adjustments since then.
Securing U.S. borders has primarily been the mission of the U.S. Border Patrol, which was established by Congress by an appropriations act in 1924. Initially a relatively small force of 450 officers patrolled both the northern and southern borders between inspection stations, guarding against the smuggling of contraband and unauthorized migrants.
The Immigration Act of 1924 established immigration quotas for most countries, with the exception of those in the Western Hemisphere, including Mexico. (While some specific limitations existed, per-country quotas for Western Hemisphere countries did not exist until 1976) Earlier policies had set categorical exclusions to entry (e.g., for Chinese and other Asian immigrants) that were exceptions to an otherwise open immigration policy. Between 1942 and 1964, the Bracero Program brought in nearly 5 million Mexican agricultural workers to fill the labor gap caused by World War II. Both employers and employees became used to the seasonal work, and when the program ended, many continued this employment arrangement without legal authorization. Debates about enhancing enforcement of immigration laws ensued in the late 1970s and 1980s, largely in concert with counter-drug smuggling efforts and interest in curbing the post-Bracero rise in unauthorized flows of migrant workers.
– https://www.trumpwall.construction/history, 1/11/21
Reagan's Wall Speech
"Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961.
– The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech
My questions
- Why are we building a wall similar to the one that the US demanded the Russians tear down?
- Why are we building a wall that is costing well over $10 billion?
- Would not the $10 billion cost be better utilized elsewhere?
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