The wall between Mexico and the United States and the reaction of Californians.

We will present our presentation on the wall between Mexico and the United States and the reaction of Californians.

                                            Introduction :

On 20th , September 2017, Xavier Becerra, the California Attorney General, filed a lawsuit against the US government. In his complaint, which concerns the border counties of San Diego and Imperial, Xavier Becerra believes that the Trump administration violates the US Constitution, California and federal environmental laws, because of the construction of the barrier between the United States and Mexico.

I - (Let's go back to the beginning) What is this barrier ?

In 1965, the illegal immigration and the drug trafficking has increased. In the 2000s  George Bush wanted to build a wall to stop the illegal immigration, and the drugs traffic from Mexico. There were approximately 7 millions immigrants per years. On 14th  September, 2006, the US Congress adopted the Secure Fence Act, with 283 vote for, and 138 against. On 29th  September, by a vote of 80 for and 19 against, the US Senate confirmed the construction of 700 miles (environ 1125km) of physical fence along the border. Finally, on 26th  October George Bush signed the creation of the barrier on American territory along the United States Mexico border. The wall is made of steel cylinders 5 meters high, sections of mesh and concrete punctuate with projectors and surveillance cameras detecting movement around the wall. The barrier has 1,800 surveillance towers, with nearly 18,000 men from the Border Patrol for surveillance. The wall consists of 2 parallel barriers between which passes a patrol road. During Georges Bush’s mandate over 1000 kilometers of wall were built.

II – Trump and the wall

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump is building one of his main campaign promises : the construction of a much larger and fortified wall. Once elected, he signed on 25th  January, 2017 a decree to this effect. The border between USA and Mexico is 3200 kilometers long. But they are many natural border. So the president Trump want to build a wall between 1100 and1450 kilometers.

In January 2017, Donald Trump's project is valued at 25 billion $. He said that Mexico will pay the end of the construction of the wall, while Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto says Mexico will pay nothing.

III – Reactions

As we already said, the California Attorney General, filed a lawsuit against the US government, and he denounced the wall. But Californians are not the only ones to react.

At the announcement of the wall, on 2006, a survey showed that 53 percents of the Americans were opposed to the Secure Fence Act, whereas a national survey published on the 29th  July 2010 revealed that 68 percents of the Americans were for the wall construction.

Many ecologists have denounced the wall because it harms the ecosystem.
The wall destroys crossing points for some animals and several threatened species may disappear.