Arizona sheriff: US-Mexico border wall ‘a medieval solution to a modern problem’
The sheriff of an Arizona county that sits on the U.S.-Mexico border said Trump's proposed border wall is "a medieval solution to a modern problem."
FILE - In this March 30, 2017 file photo, a portion of the new steel border fence stretches along the US-Mexico border in Sunland Park, New Mexico. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
PHOENIX — The sheriff of an Arizona county that sits on the U.S.-Mexico border said President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall is “a medieval solution to a modern problem.”
In an interview with New York Times podcast “The Daily,” Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier said lawmakers would be better off giving a fraction of the estimated billions it would take to build the wall to law enforcement.
“You’d have to argue that it’s a feasible proposition to begin with, and I’m not sure that I subscribe to that,” he said.
“I think it’s kind of a medieval solution to a modern problem. I mean, 10,000 years ago we were building walls around things, and here we are in 2017, and this is the best idea we can come up with?”
Napier said Trump’s policies are already deterring people from entering the country — both legally and illegally — because they are unsure of how they will be treated in the United States.
However, he said he understands why the people who enter illegally would take the risk to sneak into the country.
“I would ask my Republican brotherhood that decry [undocumented immigration], ‘If your family were impoverished, if your family were endangered, if your family were in need, what would you not do to protect them?'”
Napier’s county includes 125 miles of the border and Tucson, the second-largest city in Arizona.
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92 Comments
So many non sequiters and red herrings Ares. You're really slipping down to tenacious and Pete level. To keep it simple I'll sum up all of those into this: gun control. If you make guns illegal, will that stop crime? School shootings? Not a chance. Why? Think. And that's the same answer you will get for the stupid wall.
Now, about demand. Education is key. So is keeping our legislators in check from Big Pharma lobbyists. Next is the most "radical" thought: legalization. How did we cut the legs from the American Mafias? We legalized alcohol. Is it so radical to allow responsible adults consume what they wish into their bodies? No, we do it all the time. Cigarettes, cigars, vaping, alcohol, GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, synthesized sweeteners, the list goes on. At least with regulation people will know what they are consuming. I could go on but you get the concept.
Labor is easy. Allow them to work cheaper than Americans. Some see this as taking jobs away. But are we really? Americans, sad sad to say, are lazy. Right now, this moment, people don't have jobs and are sitting on welfare. Guess what? Right now, this moment, farms and ranches are short handed. I don't see a mad rush of people heading there like told in The Grapes of Wrath. Again, try the economics book. Free Markets and less government intervention can do wonders. A Wall, will only add debt.
I'm against the "war on drugs" so whatever point your making is nil. It's been a waste since Nixon started it and Reagan pushed it.
You should really try reading more into economics. It may help. I'd suggest "economics in one lesson" By Hazlitt. It might help you with a better understanding of a free market. And with that you would be amazed at what issues are solved with a free market. Which, I may add, is a pillar of actual conservatism.
To those that say walls won't work, I agree - to a point. It all depends on the wall.
Ask anyone that lived in Isreal (before a high, secure walk was built) was it was like to live under a constant threat of suicide bombers then vs. now.
Sure, a few still get through, but the amount of deaths caused by suicide bombers in Isreal is far, far less now than before that secure wall was built.
As someone that's traveled a decent amount through southern AZ, NM, and Texas, I can tell you that large areas of those states don't have the border walls that you constantly see shown within the media. In many areas, ranchers have better fencing up to keep cattle in (or out) of their land than we do as a country to keep illegals out.
It appears that where decently high walls and barricades have been installed they have worked to decrease the number of illegals from crossing into the U.S., but certainly the lack of a robust economy under 8 years of Obama also helped to deter many as well.