by Serena H.
In one way or another, most individuals have heard of the Wall. The Wall is meant to be built on the US border with Mexico and has caused uproar for many reasons. Some people think it is a good idea and that it will help with immigration. Others think it will have no change, thus not worth the money it would take to build it.
Initially, Donald Trump proposed the Wall be paid for by Mexico’s government. This obviously didn’t sit well Mexico and they refused to fund such a project. The Wall was proposed to be 1,000 miles long, apparently including ‘natural barriers’ like mountains and such, and has seemingly changed throughout Trump’s presidency in price. Initially estimated by Trump to be about $10 billion, then $4 billion, including price tags around $20 billion!
The thought of Mexico paying for it outright didn't work out, so Trump proposed using trade agreements with Mexico to pay for the wall. Again, that hasn’t really worked out. Since then, Trump began demanding Congress find money in the budget to fund the Wall, thus making it American taxpayer funded.
There have been lots of issues with Congress finding these funds, as the Democrats and Republicans cannot seem to agree on a bill for the Wall budget. This has caused, yet again, another government shutdown, affecting federal workers across the nation. On that note, Trump has declared that the government won't reopen until there is some semblance of a wall, be it a fence or something of that nature.
Since then, some individuals have started a GoFundMe for the Wall, hoping to get the government reopened and the wall built. Brian Kolfage’s GoFundMe has raised over $17 million dollars, which only a small portion of the estimated costs of the wall. Despite this push from some Americans, there is still no movement with the government shutdown as Trump still insists on getting US Government funding for the Wall and still somehow getting Mexico to pay for it “indirectly” through trade agreements and taxes.
At the moment, with Congress at a standstill, Trump’s constant demands for funding, and the GoFundMe from Americans, it looks as though Mexico isn’t guaranteed to pay for the Wall but the American people are!
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