Dear Mr. Trump,

You have probably gotten hundreds of thousands of letters from students like me, who think that you are wrong or you are right about your stance on important issues. I am writing to you about immigration. More specifically, deportation of illegal immigrants and the wall. Yes, the wall. The wall you are proposing to build on the border between Mexico and the United States if you become president. The wall that you claim will be an "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall". Your wall that you think that Mexico will pay for. According to http://www.cnbc.com/, the fences already existing only cover a third of the border, and that already cost 2.4 billion dollars (October 9, 2015). The wall would be incredibly expensive. In addition, Mexico is one of the United States’ closest allies (both figuratively and literally). If the wall was built, it would put a strain on the relationship between the two countries. The wall is not very realistic. Also, immigrants will find a way to get around the wall. They want to move to America for a better life. They want better jobs and better education for their children. They want to live in a country where they can feel safer. They see the US as a place of hope, a place where they and their families can have a future. A barrier will not stop them. I understand that you would like to stop drug dealers, rapists, and criminals from coming into our country, but those people aren’t exclusively from Mexico. Building a wall is not the way.

My second issue that I want to talk about is deportation. Illegal immigrants shouldn’t be forced to leave their children born in the United States. Families need each other, and they need to stay together. According to Pew research, in 2014 there were 42.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, making up 13.2% of the nation's population. Out of those immigrants, 4.5 million US-born children may have one or both of their parents deported. That’s not right. No family deserves to get torn apart. They haven’t really done anything wrong. Again, they are just looking for a better life. Also, it would take lots of money, time, and resources to get all of the unauthorized immigrants out of the country. You would need more police officers or law enforcement to find all of the “illegal immigrants”. Then, you would have to provide transportation to the border. If they are forced to leave their US-born children behind, you have to decide what to do with them. When the undocumented immigrants are at the border, you have to figure out how to get them over or around your wall, if it is already in place, and to keep them from crossing the border again. There are more things to consider as well. Are they allowed to enter the country again if they get the proper authorization? How would this affect the United States’ relationship to Mexico? Would this affect the relationship? How are you going to provide the money to fund this? Would it add more to the national debt? Please consider the answers to these questions before you make a decision.

Thank you for reading my letter, and I hope you give some consideration to these facts if you become president and decide to carry out your plans to build a wall and deport all illegal immigrants.

Sincerely,

Angel Mae Meyer (Student at Quimby Oak Middle School: LSI)