Yes, there are several. Let’s start off with the proliferation of guns and killings in the United States. Every day, often with multiple victims and yet BC makes no move to address this emergency. Yes, there are citizens killed by immigrants – but let’s look at the ratio of immigrant killings to home-grown killings. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe that policy is being controlled by the NRA. After all, they buy elections why not then set policy.
Education – The problems are numerous. Inadequate funding, uneven funding, over-crowding, lack of qualified teachers (many find they must leave teaching in order to be able to afford to live), large classrooms. I defy any elected official to go into a class of 30 to 35 kids and address all the different levels of learning, outside influences, prevalence of electronic devices, concern for safety, etc. and stay there five days a week for a month. Then, let them say things are fine, school opportunities are equal across the community, teacher pay is adequate. I doubt that they could truthfully espouse those statements.
Poverty – The cycle of poverty is overwhelming. Those few who are able to break through it are lucky. The pathways are difficult and often impossible. The poor have barriers risen that others do not have to scale. This is an invisible wall which should come down. Poor education leads to less opportunity to obtain a better job. Low salaries are the norm. Executives of companies can make upward of 200+% of the salaries of their workers. The minimum wage is not a living wage. Poor health and no access to affordable health care sends too many to the emergency room when things have reached a crisis point. Sickness can affect job security. Many emergency room visits would be eliminated if health care insurance were affordable. And, as shown by the recent college admissions scandal, the opportunities of higher education are skewed to the rich and powerful making a joke of admission policies which indicate otherwise.
Roads, Bridges, Buildings – The infrastructure is a dire problem. Falling bridges, buildings not built to code, roads unable to be built fast enough to deal with the increased volume of cars and trucks. Roads in dreadful condition and dangerous because of increased volume of traffic. Railroads with rapidly aging tracks without adequate funds and attention to update. Take a drive through a neighborhood of mansions and compare the road conditions to those of the inner city, poverty areas.
A wall which might slow down some who are intent to enter this country but won’t stop them. Better ports of entry, better personnel, better use of technology, etc. are means of beginning to address the problems of immigration. Walls can be scaled, can be tunneled under, can be gone around. There will always be ways to thwart the barrier. Wouldn’t those billions be better spent dealing with some of the true emergencies of this country along with improved methods of dealing with immigration. We don’t need a BIG, BEAUTIFUL WALL that Mexico is NOT going to pay to construct.
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