It's safe to say that by now everyone is well aware of Donald Trump's campaign promise to build a wall along the entire border between The United States and Mexico. Not only is he going to get that wall built, but he's going to make Mexico pay for it too. For some people, this is fantastic news. No more of them border hopping, drug slinging, women raping mex-ee-cans coming over here and ruining our country. This is America after all, the last thing we want is to accept people who are trying to leave their difficult lives behind.

But if you're like me and you've done some research, or just thought about the nature of walls in general, then you might be aware of how incredibly ineffective and ultimately destructive a project like that would be. Originally I was planning on making a list of reasons but I found that they all sort of weave into each other. So for anyone who doesn't understand just why a big ass wall on our southern border isn't going to do anything to hinder illegal immigration or the importing of illegal drugs, let me point some things out to you.

First, let's look at a picture:

Now just keep looking for a while. Stare really hard. Do you notice something perhaps? Something like a big blue squiggly line running from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico? If you're not great with geography then I'll just tell you it's the Rio Grande River.

You see, a lot of borderlines are pretty arbitrary. Two groups of people get together and decide where exactly one state or country ends and the other begins. But in some cases there are natural objects that create borders, and in our case with Mexico a significant part of that border is a river that is over 1,800 miles long, and it is damn near impossible to build a wall along the banks of a river. In fact, when they built the original (ineffective) border fence they had to build it far enough inland that several parts of Texas are now legally considered Mexico because they are on the other side of the fence.

Now imagine instead of a flimsy fifteen foot fence it was thirty or forty feet high (or how ever large Trump says at his next rally) and instead of being built out of thin steel, it was solid concrete several feet thick and reinforced with steel supports as Trump claims it will be. It couldn't possibly be built anywhere near the river if it was meant to last. This means that if we really wanted that wall built then we would have to cede large pieces of land to Mexico and relocate a significant amount of Texans to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

What do I mean it doesn't exist? People love to complain about Mexicans crossing the border illegally and ruining life for everyone, so it must be happening right? Well not exactly. Of course there are illegal immigrants, the thing is that not all of them are Mexican and not all of them come here illegally in the first place. Over 40% of current illegal immigrants came to the country legally and then overstayed their visa. Not only that, but there are currently more illegal immigrants from Asia than there are South America.

Ask yourself, how is a giant wall between The United States and Mexico going to prevent people from legally flying here? Or coming here from literally any other direction? If you paid really close attention that picture I posted earlier then you may have noticed an abundance of blue stuff on either side of Mexico. Those are called the Pacific and Atlantic ocean respectfully. Believe it or not, they have boats in Mexico. Not only that, but there are plenty of people in the States who have boats and would be willing to ferry some immigrants over here for a fee.

Even if they can't afford to go over the wall legally or find a way around the east or west of it, there is almost nothing stopping them from getting a really big ladder to climb up, and then using a rope to get back down the other side. Yes, border patrol exists, but it is literally impossible given their manpower and technology to patrol the entire wall. There will always be dark spots, people will always be able to get over a wall. It's a wall. I've been climbing over walls since I was a small child and I didn't even have the hope of a better life waiting for me on the other side.

But what about all those illegal drugs? You must surely be asking. Use your imagination for a second and picture a man holding what looks like a large white brick covered in plastic wrap. He then throws it over the wall to someone he knows who is already on the inside. It is literally that simple. A wall isn't going to stop drugs from getting into this country anymore than it's going to stop people. We are the cartels' biggest customers and we're not going to get rid of them by building a giant middle finger to the rest of the world.

Because ultimately, that's what it is. We want to threaten cutting off all trade with Mexico unless they build this wall for us. One of our top economic trading partners. And I know I'm really making you stretch your geography muscles here, but The United States and Mexico don't just exist in a vacuum. Many of the goods we receive from other South American countries have to come through Mexico. Hurting Mexico's economy is only going to hurt the entire southern continent's economy and thus hurt the world's economy.

That's right, I bet you guys forgot about how there's an entire planet out there. I know we have our reputation as the selfish pricks of the world, but this is taking it to a new extreme. Could you imagine if China grew a soul and decided not to do business with us anymore because they were tired of our huge tech companies coming to their country and paying their children a few pennies to make our phones? We would be screwed and the whole world would be screwed. That's why the paranoia of China "calling in our tab" is nonsense. They're smart enough to realize the effect that would have on the global economy. But clearly we are not that smart .

But the most confusing thing about all of this to me is the idea that we want Mexico to pay for and/or build the wall. Why exactly are we holding an entire country responsible for what its immigrants are doing? Do people genuinely think that the Mexican government is orchestrating all of this because they hate us? When the allies defeated the Nazis in WWII they didn't all get together and build a wall around Germany just for good measure, and at least in that case it would have almost been reasonable, although clearly not at all.

After giving you all of that to consider, let me leave you with one last question. If this isn't some sort of anti-American conspiracy led by the leaders of Mexico (which I am 100% positive it isn't) then why are all of these people risking illegal immigration? The short answer, Bill Clinton. The long answer, NAFTA. We ruined their economy, they came here to find work and survive, now we're punishing them for it. Do you think immigration will go up or down if we decimate their economy some more?