The border wall-one of Donald Trump's many controversial presedential decisions.On the face of it,a simple extension of existing barriers to check illegral migration and movement of contraband.Who doesn't want their country protected from illegral migration and smuggling and whatnot? There are is a two faceted problem I have with this wall-but first I'll just give a small recap on its history.The border wall was suggested by Trump repeatedly in the run up to his 2016 presidential campaign-something which surprised and shocked many,but also something which won him a number of supporters.Due to repeated appeals challenging his wish to construct the wall with funds from the military budget,work did not start till late 2018.He even imposed a 35 day government shutdown and declared a national emergency before the 2019 federal budget made provisions for the spending. Since then 732 kilometres of the wall have been constructed although only 79 kilometres of it was constructed where no previous barriers existed. Coming to the problems-it is firstly a costly and wasteful drain on federal resoruces,with official federal estimates putting the cost at 21 billion USD,while unofficial figures might be much higher.Such high expenditure is only justified in such cases if it would make a huge tangible difference to national security-in this case,experts have said the wall wouldn't make a huge difference to drug peddling or immigration,as people would still find ways to enter the country.Tunneling is still used as a means to escape border patrols for smuggling contraband.The wall might make a small difference somewhere in illegal migration-but the effect is so miniscule that it is not worth the demographic and monetary cost it entails. Now let's look at the more subtle part of this topic-the symbolic meaning of this wall.The wall isn't just a physical barrier-its more of a symbol-representing the barrier Trump and his supporters have to the changes in American society-a barrier to inclusivity and diversity,something they always despised deep down.There was never such a need to create such a huge barrier,especially since it didn't come cheap.It all comes down to how you view this issue-if you think like Trump-in a more America First sort of way-if you believe that a bigger,wealthier nation has no duty towards those much poorer,that a supposed world leader doesn't have a moral obligation towards citizens from a country who are not well off,then you'd maybe not take objection to such a wall.Someone more liberal would definitely take objection to this- I believe the solution to such a problem is better surveillance and use of technology at border patrol points.llegal immigration is a problem,we can all have our views on the pros and cons of allowing migrants-but such a decision would not,in my opinion,be an appropriate solution to the problem.