Donald Trump’s campaign promise was a border wall to keep America safe. Now, as president, Trump is willing to use hype, fear, alternative facts and outright lies to make his vision come true.
In the past few days, Trump has drawn attention to the border city of El Paso, Texas, in his claim toward immigrant crime. The city was brought up in his State of the Union address as the worst city for violent crimes caused by immigrants. He added the rates dropped significantly after starting the construction of the wall.
Those statements have the media, El Paso mayor and residents scratching their heads. It just is not true. The city’s crime rate has been decreasing over the last 18 years. Ironically, a slight increase in crime was reported after wall construction, according to Politifact. Despite that, El Paso remains one of the safest cities in America.
That is not stopping the president from claiming otherwise. He held a rally in the city Monday night, arguing reality concerning El Paso’s crime rates. In his mind, the facts are wrong, and he is right.
Trump’s persistence in garnering $5.7 billion to fund his wall led to a 35-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.
The drama and hype was almost too much for America to take. Many agree that something must be done about the border security issue. Fear mongering, lying and distortion, however, are not the way to handle it.
The border wall needs addressing. Within our own country, however, there have been acts of terrorism that were not committed by immigrants. This week marks the first anniversary of the shooting massacre at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 people dead and 14 wounded.
The Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 left our country reeling in horror and disbelief. Twenty first-graders and six staff members were killed in that incident. Since then, there have been 239 school shootings as of last February, according to The New York Times. These figures do not include mass shootings in the public and private sector.
After Sandy Hook, America rallied together, promising this would never happen again. But we lied. It has happened numerous times since, but all the talk is about the dangers of immigrants.
Gun control debates re-emerge each time a shooting happens. Politicians tip-toe around the controversy like poisonous snakes. Their thoughts and prayers are handed out like sweat rags at a marathon. Yet somehow everyone in power stays silent concerning solving the problem.
Trump wants people to believe America is in danger of violent immigrants. What about violent citizens? Both issues need work and accountability. If our president and lawmakers put as much time, effort and action into gun protection measures as they did border wall rhetoric, we might be on our way to a safer nation.
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