Question

2 pages with reference.

The year 2019 has brought divided government back to Washington D.C., and with it, the first showdown between the two major political parties in the USA. What is divided government and how do will it impact President Trump's plan to build his wall? What political party will come out victorious in this battle, and why?

Answer 1

America get its first taste of divided government under President Trump when a Democratic House tries to wrest control of the political agenda from Mr. Trump, who appears determined to keep the focus on border security, immigration and his “big, beautiful” wall.

The issue is that no wall or expense will keep those coming in out.

Currently the most common violation is overstaying a temporary visa, a wall has no relevance to regulating this. But even for those crossing the border, a wall is still ineffective, any wall however tall or deep is porous.

The expense of an effective wall, much more expensive that what is proposed, is far more expensive than any potential economic harm that might occur from immigration.

Given that the wall is mostly wasted money with little or no effectiveness for it stated purpose there are plenty of other infrastructure projects that would bolster our constitution economy and also have positive economic externalities. Rebuilding our bridges that are in need of repair or replacement would create jobs and positive economic externalities invested in the infrastructure of commerce.

Most economic analysis of immigration indicates that immigration has positive externalities on the local economy. The goods and services and housing that immigrants (from any previous location foreign or domestic) consume, creates more jobs in the economy and actually has a positive impact on local employment. Immigrants arriving and filling a job, create more jobs in the economy than they fill —the large positive impact comes from investment in the construction of housing a durable but non transportable local good. So blocking immigration actually has a negative impact on the economy. In short the popularist, disbelieving in science, distrustful of experts, lying administration is proposing a way to hurt the economy not help the economy.

Then there is also the pro immigration sentiment that our immigration system is broken and discriminatory and in general we should allow more not less legal immigration. My own family of antecedents have been immigrating to this land continually over the last 397 years, some having arrived on the Mayflower and some alive today having immigrated themselves. We are a land built by immigrants. A land made stronger by immigrants. A land uniquely successful because of the diversity of our immigration. We should be building welcoming centers and immigration support networks not walls.