Since the last election, President Donald Trump has made it no secret that he plans on enforcing border security in an effort to combat unauthorized immigrants, crimes and drugs from Central  America. During a press conference on Tuesday, April 3, President Trump announced that until the wall is built, the military will guard the United States borders with Mexico. On Friday April 6, about 250 Texas National Guards were dispatched to the border within 72 hours after President Trump’s decision. This makes Texas the first state to position National Guard troops to the United States’ southern border.   

Whether or not this decision will impact any positive change is a matter of personal opinion and  it all comes down to a matter of necessity and importance. We could be focusing on issues within the country, such as gun violence, before claiming that Mexicans are the cause of all the issues in this nation.  

Up until now, there’s been 17 school shootings in 2018 alone and 290 since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This number continues to increase, and the American people have been protesting against gun violence/control laws, only to be brushed off with, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” – as if that’s supposed to bring any consolation. With all this violence going on internally, not caused by Mexican immigrants, unauthorised or otherwise, focusing on borders is not a necessity of the federal government.  

Before President Trump’s decision, the Texas National Guard already had about 100 troops patrolling the borders since 2014 and the expenses came to nearly $63 million last year. All the while, there’s violence caused by non-Mexican citizens that is being ignored. We have issues with mental illness that this funding could go into helping, but the President Trump administration’s main concern seems to be promoting stereotypes of Mexican people. Either that, or they get into Twitter feuds with celebrities, or anyone else that dares disagree with the presidency.  

Not every Mexican is a criminal, drug lord or whatever President Trump is adamant at associating them with. This decision puts people in an unnecessary state of panic and will add to the tensions already in the nation. I think that President Trump’s administration needs to make a list of what’s important instead of putting fear into the American people toward a particular group of people.  

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