Newsweek

Why a Mexican Border Wall Won’t Stop the Drug Cartels

Building a wall is expensive symbolism; it won't prevent catapults, submarines or laundered cartel money.
U.S. Border Patrol agents carry out special operations near the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
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In every place and every era—from ancient China to East Germany—walls have created fractures, divisions, injustice. So when a politician announces the construction of a wall, the first question we should ask is: What is its purpose? And then: Will it make things better or worse?

On February 28, in his first speech to Congress, President Donald Trump affirmed his commitment to dismantling the criminal cartels that have spread drugs across the United States. He reiterated his commitment to the “great wall” along the Mexican border as a fundamental pillar of his strategy, guaranteeing that the wall will

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