Letter: Trump plan off the wall

It’s leap year — oh joy — which means voting for the president. The loudest mouth amongst the cacophony thinks that the answer to illegal immigration is to build a wall at the Mexican border. As a matter of fact and money, that probably wins the award for the most off-the-wall idea of the season.

For the last 15 years we have managed to construct a mishmash of pedestrian/vehicular fencing that stretches barely one third of the 2,000-mile length. To date, most of the construction has been in California, Arizona and New Mexico, with barely 100 miles spotted through Texas, where the Rio Grande runs through.

We have a treaty with Mexico that dates back to the mid-1800s. We have agreements for mutual benefits regarding river access, the environment, and plain old water supply. Just providing for all of that is expensive.

Then add the potential cost of this wall, which would be in the trillions. And as a final caveat, The Donald would have us believe that he would get the Mexican government to pay for it. Apparently if he told us the sky was falling, there would be people in the good old US of A who would believe it. What seems more likely is the following fractured nursery rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty Trumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty Trumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty Trumpty together again.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Letter: Trump plan off the wall."