11-9-2016

Dear President of the United States of America,

I watched the final debate between the Presidential candidates, and one of the topics that intrigued me is border security between the U.S and Mexico. Yes, I’m aware that there are dangerous people coming through the borders and that building a wall would be a good solution to help secure the borders. However, the wall could be restricting access to immigrants are vital to the economy by filling up jobs when business need employees, as well as refugees, who may need a secure place to stay. So I decided to do some research about immigration policies and drug smuggling happening between America and Mexico. I feel that there should be a balance between having completely closed borders and open borders.

Apparently, there’s more to the Drug War than what meets the eye. According to a Wikipedia article (cite source) about the Mexican Drug War, the U.S. Justice Department sees the drugs cartels to be the greatest organized crime threat to the United States. These drugs cartels are currently responsible for many killings and crimes inappropriate for a kid like me to say, let alone write about. These horrible people took advantage of innocent immigrants who just want a better life. For example, they would use threats to get the immigrants to bring drugs into the United States. For some immigrants who refuse to help, their families are either hurt or killed. When the immigrants are no longer of use to the drug cartels, they get killed anyway. I can see why building a wall is a possible solution, but these cartels seem very dedicated to what they do. They use trucks, cars, human slaves, and even corpses to smuggle drugs over the border. I’d bet they wouldn’t let a wall get in their way.

Though, shutting out immigrants for the safety of the U.S isn’t the best idea, although some people would want that to happen. Immigrants fill up low-income job position when businesses need employees and it could bad for the economy without them. I mean back then when the U.S had limited the immigrants who is moving to the country. Businesses had a hard time finding employees and they had to rely on temporary Mexican workers who would be brave enough to cross the border illegally. “According to Gitis and his colleague Jacqueline Varas, the labor force would shrink, the economy would lose $1 trillion and federal spending on deportations would skyrocket.” reported by Patrick Gillespie in a CNN article which also proves my point. So shutting them out may cause even more of a ruckus. But the U.S can’t just let everyone in, considering that this country is also part of this drug war and the cartels are making money selling drugs here. (Yes, there are probably people who want close borders too.) So I think there should be a balance between this spectrum between completely shutting out any outsiders to letting everyone outside of the country in. You could discuss this topic with the president of Mexico. It could spark some ideas. You two might come up with a simple and easy-to-follow system of immigration policies. Like for example, you can round up immigrants who came here illegally. Take background checks and give them paperwork and stuff so they would be allowed to live in the U.S legally. That way the drug cartels can’t advantage of them.

I think it’s best to find a way without any fighting. According to Don Winslow, the author of “The Cartel”, “In essence, when we stop fighting, we win. When we keep fighting, the cartels win.” What he is saying is that the drug cartels are like quicksand, and the more we struggle, the more we sink. So please, think thoroughly about this situation we’re currently in and look for different methods to win against the drug cartels while the keeping the immigrants and the refugees safe. Sincerely,

From a concerned student