The immigration compromise failed in the senate because it is for senators to resist scoring political points and because few of them seem to want to find a balance between security and openness. There is a lot of talk about building a wall around the borders of the US between Mexico. Charles Krauthammer argues that building a wall is the best way for the US to regain control of its borders. I believe that if the US does build a wall, it will be the wall of shame because it will send two messages. The first message will be that America is a closed nation, which wants to remain the shining city of the hill and which wants to protect its wealth from the rest of the world. The second message that it will send is that America is so scared and so insecure that it had to build a wall to try to protect itself from the outside. Walls are never good things and are symbols of powerlessness and of fear. When I think of a wall, I think of the one that the Nazis built in Warsaw to separate the Ghettos before starting the final solution. I am not making a comparison, I am just saying that the act of building a wall means that what is on the other side is threatening, dangerous, and especially unworthy of coming to the good side. I do not want the US to be associated with the idea that separation means security especially when there are other ways to stop illegal immigration. Walls, fences should always be instruments of last resort and in this case, I do not believe that the US has tried everything else to make its borders secure. The day the US builds its wall will be its last day as an exceptional country that is admired and envied because it is both rich and approachable.
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