I semi-recently
came across a video on Facebook headlined; “Build
the Wall: The Best Argument You’ll Ever Hear”. This video was posted by an individual I had
previously never heard of; Charlie Kirk. In the video Kirk makes what proponents
for a wall at the southern border might call a compelling argument by throwing
out “facts”. At first glance it is
compelling, until you begin digging into it. So, I decided to take a look at
these “facts” and test their accuracy.
“An illegal alien in AZ is 2 times as likely to commit a crime as a
natural born citizen.”
Presumably,
this statistic was taken by Kirk from a report often quoted by former Attorney General
Jeff Sessions in early 2018. According to the Washington Times, the report was
prepared by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) and utilized data
centering on illegal immigrants (Dinan, 2018) . The CPRC was founded
by oft-cited Dr. John Lott. It is worth mentioning that the CPRC is typically
aligned with conservative media outlets, however their website declares that it
is listed as a non-profit organization and accepts no funding from groups such
as the NRA (CPRC, n.d.) . The analysis stood
out from its predecessors due to its look at crimes committed by those in the
country illegally, rather than crimes committed by those here legally. Sequentially,
these results challenge previous studies that determined immigrants on the
whole committed less crimes than typical citizens. If you are interested you
may download the full report HERE.
In response to the CPRC study, the Cato Institute
reviewed the findings. The data used for the study was provided by the Arizona
Department of Corrections (ADC). In contrast to the CPRC, it should be noted
that the Cato Institute reports itself as a “public policy research
organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty” (Cato
Institute, n.d.) .
They claim they are funded primarily through private non-governmental donors. Reviewer
and author Alex Nowrasteh at the Cato Institute determined the numbers were
skewed due to a misinterpretation of how the ADC defined citizenship, and the
variables surrounding that definition (2018).
According to Nowrasteh, he was given a secondary data set that mimicked the
sample used by the CPRC (from 1985-2017), and deemed it unusable due to the inability
to properly define and separate the citizenship variable (2018).
RESULT: Unconfirmed
The
data the CPRC presented is questionable. However, even if it were accurate, one
must ask themselves for an individual (immigrant or otherwise, legal or
otherwise) that has no qualms about breaking laws and committing crimes, would
illegally crossing, or otherwise bypassing a border wall be a deterrent for
entry into the U.S.?
“90% of all fentanyl and heroin is transported across the southern
border”
This
statement is a favorite of President Trump, and likely where Kirk discovered
the stat. However, that doesn’t make it untrue. In fact, most news outlets report this
statement as accurate (Lopez, 2019; Vesoulis,
Law, & Martinez, 2019).
RESULT: Confirmed
Although it seems most illegal drugs are entering from
the southern border at present the idea that a border wall will stop this is
thought of as a stretch by most experts. Essentially, drug traffickers usually employ
legal means of entry to transport drugs into the U.S. across the southern
border. Some experts have gone on record stating that there are far better
investments in combating the opioid / drug epidemic than a wall (Specht, 2019) .
“10,000 kids are sex trafficked across the southern border each year.”
Personally,
I could not find any reporting that delivered this precise of a figure specifically
for children being trafficked. Yet, before I go further let me provide some background
on sex trafficking itself. Human trafficking for both sex and labor is more prevalent
in the U.S. than most Americans believe. In fact, some authorities have argued
that with its resources the U.S. could effectively end human trafficking. One
such way to impact trafficking would be if our government made it a priority
through fighting for increased criminal penalties for traffickers and more
strict repercussions with non-compliant nations as identified by the Department
of State’s Trafficking
in Persons (TIP) report.
RESULT: Undisputed
While
I would not dismiss the statistic used here by Kirk, I would offer that IF a
wall were employed in combating sex trafficking into the U.S., and IF it were
successful it does nothing for the enslaved victims on either side of the
border, other than guarantee they are shipped somewhere other than the U.S. or
Mexico.
“56,000 illegal immigrants are in our federal prison system”
This
is another factoid that fluctuates depending on the time of citation and the
source. Some outlets have the DOJ reporting this figure as 57k, or roughly 26%
of federal prisoners being illegal aliens (Center for Immigration Studies,
2019) .
RESULT: Undisputed
This
figure seems to accurately capture the number of incarcerated illegal immigrants
in our federal system. Kirk also goes onto mention that there are more uncounted
immigrants within our state’s prison system as well, and there is no reason to
deny this claim as inaccurate.
“$135 billion spent on illegal
immigrants by American taxpayers”
Illegal
immigrants being housed by our justice system are just one aspect of federal
spending that taxpayers are on the hook for to combat illegal entry into the
U.S. Unfortunately, this figure also
proved compromised when the report it was based upon was critiqued heavily for glaring
flaws, such as overestimating the number of illegal immigrants (Athey, 2018) . A figure that by nature
is near-impossible to accurately measure.
RESULT: Unconfirmed
While
you can dispute the dollar amount spent by taxpayers on illegal immigrants, you
cannot dispute that there is, in fact an amount. Meaning, we as taxpayers are
spending something on these individuals.
However, from a cost perspective this discussion becomes moot
when you realize that the cost of a border wall has been estimated at anywhere
from $8 billion to $70 billion to build, with a fair estimate being gauged at
around $25 billion, plus $750 million a year in maintenance (Vittert) .
If accurate, this means as a country we would recoup
roughly $109 billion the first year following the wall’s completion. Following
that, taxpayers would save a little over $134 billion annually, assuming that
the wall was effective in completely ceasing illegal immigration, and related
tax burdens, which as we’ve established, is unlikely.
“Fairness- It’s not fair…” (To other immigrants outside Mexico)
To
be fair, I did not endeavor to do a great deal of research on this statement as
it is not quantifiable. Building a physical barrier to any border does nothing
to guarantee equitable treatment of immigrants entering the country either
legally or illegally.
RESULT: Unconfirmed
This
line of speechifying highlights what is inherently wrong with having a
discussion about a border wall in the first place: If what we really want to
achieve is fairness for those wishing to become full-fledged citizens (or legally
work here) then we should be discussing citizenship / immigration reform and
efficiency. Vetting, and authenticating the will of an outsider is a part of
that, but thinking that a wall will mete out some measure of fairness in any of
this is absurd.
“Sovereignty- Our culture is much different than Mexico…”
As this not quite two and a half minute video rolls, both
the statistics and any trace of logic that are rolled out with them begin to
break down (as is evidenced by the fact that they become less quantifiable, as
with our prior example).
In that vein, at around the two minute mark Kirk begins a
diatribe about American culture versus Mexican culture claiming; “Our culture
is much different and has outpaced them over the last 50 years.” Culture is not
a competition. At its core, culture is based upon advancements in a particular area(s)
that a society collectively values. These could be technological, economical,
or conditional. It could also be community, quality of life or religion. It
could also be any number of other areas of measure, again unquantifiable.
RESULT: Unconfirmed
While you cannot argue that the United States has
outpaced Mexico in terms of economic or technological growth, you cannot
declare we have a greater sense of community or national pride than does Mexico.
In fact, in the last two and a half years one could successfully argue that among
1st world countries all things considered the U.S. is lacking in
cultural depth due to our typically individualistic nature (DeAngelis,
2007) .
FINAL CONCLUSION:
Before
I wrap up, I think it significant to add, I have nothing against Charlie Kirk,
up until the 21st of January I had no idea who he was. Nor am I a geopolitical expert or a Facebook personality with any amount of measurable clout. I am is just a guy who can use Google. I am also against is rhetoric
peppered with enough fact and scare tactics that it becomes palatable as
fact, without actually being factual. This type of oratory pushes an agenda
that offers no real solution.
Further,
it can often be hard to wade through this rhetoric and dig deeper into a statistic,
its source or a person’s agenda. The border wall, immigration and trafficking concerns
are all issues that cannot be easily understood by a singular report or
research group, regardless of their political affiliation, or lack thereof. Moreover, the ways in which these reports are used are disingenuous,
and often riddled with omissions, further supplanted by half-truths to prop up
the agenda of one interest or another.
At
the end of the day the idea of a border wall as this magical cure-all for all
of the ills outlined here is pure fantasy. However, after conducting some due
diligence it is this author’s opinion that a border wall would guarantee two
things:
1) More polarizing,
divisive attitudes that our politicians on both sides can exploit for their own
gain.
2) Ensure that traffickers
(of people and substances) advance and alter their methods of transport to
foil the very purpose of the wall.
Is there a problem with drugs and illegal immigrants entering the
country at the southern border? YES
Will a border wall stop this phenomenon? NO
References
Athey,
P. (2018, June 26). Does illegal immigration cost the United States more than
$100 billion a year? Retrieved February 10, 2019, from AZ Central:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/fact-check/2018/06/26/paul-gosar-how-much-do-undocumented-immigrants-cost-economy/691997002/
Cato
Institute. (n.d.). About Cato. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Cato
Institute: https://www.cato.org/about
Center
for Immigration Studies. (2019, February 7). Immigration Data Portal. Retrieved
February 10, 2019, from Center for Immigration Studies:
https://cis.org/Immigration-Statistics-Data-Portal
CPRC.
(n.d.). About Us. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Crime Prevention Research
Center: https://crimeresearch.org/about-us/
DeAngelis,
T. (2007, April). America: A toxic lifestyle? Retrieved February 10, 2019, from
American Pyschological Association: https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr07/america
Dinan,
S. (2018, January 26). Washington Times. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from
Illegals commit crimes at double the rate of native-born: Study:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/26/illegals-commit-crimes-double-rate-native-born-stu/
Lopez,
G. (2019, January 8). Trump’s wall won’t do anything about the opioid epidemic.
Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18174768/trump-wall-opioid-epidemic-heroin
Nowrasteh,
A. (2018, February 5). The Fatal Flaw in John R. Lott Jr.’s Study on Illegal
Immigrant Crime in Arizona. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Cato Institute:
https://www.cato.org/blog/fatal-flaw-john-r-lott-jrs-study-illegal-immigrant-crime-arizona
Specht,
P. (2019, February 2). Would a border wall have prevented the opioid epidemic?
Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Politifact:
https://www.politifact.com/north-carolina/statements/2018/feb/02/ann-coulter/would-wall-have-prevented-opioid-epidemic/
U.S.
Department of State. (2018, June). Trafficking in Persons Report. Retrieved
February 10, 2019, from U.S. Department of State:
https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/258876.pdf
Vesoulis,
A., Law, T., & Martinez, G. (2019, January 8). Here Are the Facts Behind
President Trump's Border Claims. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Time:
http://time.com/5497260/donald-trump-border-wall-fact-check/
Vittert,
L. (n.d.). Trump's border wall -- how much it will actually cost according to a
statistician. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from Fox News:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trumps-border-wall-how-much-it-will-actually-cost-according-to-a-statistician
