Sooner or Later, All Walls Fall

At the beginning of the 1960s, when the wall that divided Berlin was built, John F. Kennedy gave what is perhaps his most memorable speech. There, before the wall, he demanded freedom and said with pride that “he too was a Berliner” (the fact that he said it in terrible German is another matter.) Kennedy stole a good part of the worldwide recognition that afternoon.

Twenty years later, a Republican, President Ronald Reagan, who was a political opponent of the Kennedys, began a ferocious fight that ended on Nov. 9, 1989. This was when the Berlin Wall fell and the reunification of Germany began, leading to the disintegration of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. One of the key points of Reagan’s strategy was the legalization of some three million undocumented immigrants, the majority of whom were Mexican. Reagan, who was clearly conservative, understood that you cannot champion freedom while denying it within your own borders. So, he offered this amnesty.

Thirty years later, Donald Trump has brought a good part of his nation’s greatest traditions to an end at the stroke of a pen. On Wednesday Jan. 25, he signed an executive order to build the famous wall along the Mexican border and threatened to cut federal funding for sanctuary cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, which protect the migrants who live there.

The executive order Trump signed makes no mention of how Mexico is going to pay for the wall, although Trump has repeated this statement numerous times. It does, however, compel federal agencies to identify the development, humanitarian, military and economic aid the United States supplies to Mexico. It also orders the hiring of 5,000 more migration agents and the construction of new detention centers along the border.

As Trump puts it, the wall between Mexico and the U.S. has already existed for years along over a third of the 2000 mile shared border. The executive order does not establish whether the government will complete it, or how. All serious border security experts know that completing the wall is useless and unnecessary, and that if the decision was made to build a wall like the one Trump proposed during his campaign, it would cost American taxpayers around $24 billion. The head of Homeland Security, Gen. John Kelly, who was with Trump when he signed the order, conceded last week in an appearance before the Senate that the wall was insufficient to protect the border and that it “will [not] be built any time soon.”

In addition to hiring more border patrol agents and ordering the construction of the wall, Trump’s order seeks to penalize the country’s big cities that protect immigrants — such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, among others — by withdrawing their federal funding. In the Nov. 8 election, Trump did not win a single city of more than one million inhabitants, practically all of which are governed by Democrats. The legal battle that will ensue if Trump wants to continue in this line could be his political grave. In another executive order, he has established which immigrants will be deported most urgently. This includes those who have committed crimes and are serving a prison sentence, but also a wide range of others, from those who have lied to the authorities in some way to those who have benefited from government programs. The margin is so wide that it could apply to anyone.

So, what can be done? President Peña Nieto decided to cancel his visit to Washington, which was previously scheduled for Jan. 31. I understand this, but I think that it was a mistake to cancel the visit, even if he did not meet with Trump. Peña Nieto must use all the national support he can gain to make a stand in front of other sectors of society and the press, even if he does not meet with Trump.

With regard to discussion, there is nothing left to lose. I do not doubt that perhaps progress could be made in trade negotiations, but it is also very likely that, as Luis Videgaray himself has conceded, the free trade agreement will have to be abandoned, even more so given that Canada could negotiate its status separately — will he really play this card with a liberal like Justin Trudeau?

But President Peña Nieto must demonstrate, both in Mexico and in Washington, the extent of U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship, which involves, among other things, recognizing that Trump is the president of the United States, but also that the real power is much more widely dispersed, that there is much more to do, and that there are many more battles to come. It also involves demonstrating the capacity for compromise, from real border security, and what Mexico can bring to it, to our justified complaints about the indulgence with which the United States treats the consumption of drugs, while putting pressure on the producer countries. Of course, President Peña Nieto’s decision to not go to Washington must be supported, because it forms part of an appropriate attitude. But I would also have liked to see him face this fight. This political battle has barely started. Sooner or later, walls are always knocked down.