To reiterate what all the actual data and experts and history tell us, a "border wall" will not, despite Donald Trump's overt lying, notably reduce the amount of drugs being smuggled into this country. (Something that would notably reduce that amount: a reduction in demand, possibly due to new government programs to combat addiction.) This is because most drugs are smuggled via cars and trucks. You know, trucks. The things with the wheels. The things that drive through existing ports of entry every single day, unhindered by walls because we don't put walls on our roadways and attempting to smuggle any significant amount of goods on foot through the southwest deserts is not a profitable way to run a drug business. It's cars, and it's trucks, and sometimes boats and even trains—not by foot. The invention of the wheel, which Donald went on about at some length this week (possibly because he saw an infomercial about wheels on his teevee) has long rendered the even more ancient wall obsolete, at least when it comes to moving large quantities of goods quickly and unobtrusively.
And if you don't believe it, the underlings of one of the most notorious drug smugglers in modern history, El Chapo, have been testifying as such during his current trial.
Jesús Zambada Garcia, a former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, testified this week that for years smugglers used trucks and other vehicles with hidden compartments to ply their trade. Witnesses also testified about the use of fishing boats.
Tunnels under the current walls used to be the preferred way, according to their court testimony, but after U.S. officials caught on to that scheme it went back to the old standby: fill a hidden compartment in an ordinary-looking vehicle with contraband and drive it right through the border checkpoints. Sometimes the drivers are caught. Far more often, they are not.
This matches with DEA figures and is not even vaguely surprising. Our law enforcement officials are not stupid. They are not baffled by what's going on, and Trump's insistence on relying on inventions of his own brain are not confusing the people whose careers have been spent tracking and confiscating the stuff.
This suggests that if Donald Trump gave a damn about drugs—not the ones rumor-mongers have accused him of grinding up and snorting before public appearances, but the much more unacceptable imported kinds—a "wall" is among the least effective possible solutions. But it's not supposed to be a solution, now, is it. It's supposed to be a monument. It's supposed to be a physical manifestation of the xenophobic terror of Trump's base, a concrete-and-steel security blanket that will make not one of them sleep better at night. Effectiveness is nowhere on the list of concerns.