Trump promises to finish construction of border wall

by Guillermo Alvarado

Within the program being prepared by the working team of US President-elect Donald Trump, there are two that have dark overtones not only for the exterior, but also for the economy and even social stability within this territory.

I am referring to the tycoon's obsession with completing the construction of a huge wall that will run along most of the border with Mexico, allegedly to prevent the entry into the United States of those who risk their lives in exchange for the supposed "American dream", more like a nightmare.

The other is the bizarre idea of carrying out the largest deportation in history of irregular migrants, along with their families, regardless of whether some of their children were born in this country and are covered by the laws.

Someone close to Trump will undoubtedly know some history and may remind him that no empire that has isolated itself from its neighbors has become stronger or more prosperous as a result.

Walls are illusions that sooner or later crumble, and there are examples everywhere, in every era and on every continent.

The only measure that works to avoid large human movements is to provide solutions to the causes that motivate them, for example education, health, employment, an economy capable of providing opportunity, decent housing, in other words, everything that the United States prevents or destroys in the world.

As for mass deportation, there is already enough information to assure that it will be the closest thing to a war in which one of the parties will be totally unarmed while the other will use all its power.

It is already known, for example, that they plan to use the army to do the dirty work, and this was recently boasted by Tom Homan, who will be in charge of border control, who announced the use of military bases and planes to concentrate and expel the migrants.

The military is a multiplier that could help with transportation, administration, intelligence analysis and infrastructure construction, with large tents that could serve as short-term detention centers, Homan said.

Of course, not everything will go as they think, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the power of the most racist and xenophobic forces that inhabit this country, capable of imagining the most brutal actions, even if they know that the blow can be reversed.