Why Mexico will pay for the wall

The debate around Donald Trump's wall has been shaped by liberal and media narratives that focus on illegal immigrants in the U.S. The left has painted a picture of compassion for these immigrants, making them the entirety of the story. Sanctuary cities have declared safe havens for illegal immigrants, without really distinguishing between the good and the bad among them. They have also spun numbers about temporarily declining immigration rates to diminish the significance of the problem. Liberals have labeled opponents of open borders hard-hearted racists. Immigration has become one of those narrative stories, filled with human suffering, compassion, and demonized enemies, that liberals love to love. What liberals have ignored is the severe consequences of slack U.S. borders for Mexico. Mexican society and the Mexican economy have been severely distorted and held hostage for decades by criminal gangs that make their living smuggling drugs and migrants into the U.S. Their access to and control over the U.S. border are precisely what has brought them power and wealth, while unleashing a long-term scourge on Mexican society. These gangs murder, kidnap, and extort innocent Mexican citizens. They corrupt the Mexican police and military. They transport illegal migrants to the U.S. – extorting, exploiting, raping, and murdering them along the way. They transport drugs to the U.S., undermining our civil society and killing our citizens. They instill fear and violence across Mexican society, preventing it from achieving the stable, middle-class society that NAFTA promised. These truths are well documented in news reports, testimony from ranchers who own border land, and movies.

Where is liberals' compassion, in their self-absorption and attachment to their own narratives, for the honest citizens of Mexico who are victimized in their own country by the criminal gangs fostered and financed by open U.S. borders? Liberals have a narrative about the tons of illegal drugs these gangs transport into the U.S., too. It goes something like this: we did drugs when we were young (Choomer Obama), and it didn't harm us. Look at us now: we're running things, and isn't the world a better place? Those deplorables dying of heroin overdoses in flyover country? The real problem is the War on Drugs. If only we legalized and taxed drugs, unfortunates could get drugs easily and wouldn't have to go into debt and commit crimes to finance their habits. With the taxes, we could finance more social programs. The people who can't control themselves? We can medicalize their addictions and give them unlimited health care. Shutting down the U.S. border will reduce or eliminate the power and wealth of these criminal gangs and their stranglehold over Mexican society. Once they no longer have access to the U.S. border, they will no longer have access to the source of their wealth and power. Trump's wall will eliminate the reign of terror under which Mexico's honest citizens have lived for a long time. The benefits that a wall will bring to Mexican civil society and to law and order should be reasons for liberals to support Trump's wall. These benefits are also why Mexico, once it has overcome the perceived affront to its dignity, will gladly pay. Shutting down the U.S. border will also dramatically reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S., with all their negative economic and social consequences. I'm waiting for a liberal to argue against these benefits, but I haven't found one yet.