The internet is abuzz this morning with the revived claim that Mexico is hypocritical for defying Trump over his claim that they are against walls since Mexico has an impenetrable wall on their southern border with Guatemala. This article by Snopes, which was published earlier was updated yesterday, January 27th, 2017.
The author, Dan Evon points out that the false claims, created by a Facebook group called “Americans for Common Sense”, uses pictures of existing walls and fences in Israel and the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in southeastern Arizona.
A few facts:
- The border between Mexico and Guatemala is 541 miles long and meanders through rain forests for much of its length. The only barriers on the borders are the occasional fences at border crossings in populated areas. The border is classified as “porous” by reliable news sources, and the Snopes article which says:
Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala is notoriously porous. Unlike the U.S.-Mexico border, which is sewed up with a massive fence and guarded by armed border agents, drones, and cameras, Mexico’s southern border is almost imperceptible.
Residents on both sides of the border circumvent the official border crossing by paying a few pesos to get pushed across the slowly flowing Suchiate River on makeshift inner-tube rafts.
From Snopes article. Immigrants being welcomed at border.
The existing 640 miles of wall and fencing on the U.S./Mexico border is not up to the standards laid out by Trump. The border extends about 2,000 miles, and claims that it will cost about 12 billion dollars to construct are contradicted by studies from respected MIT engineers that say the cost for a mere 1,000 miles of the wall, as proposed would be 38 billion dollars, making the 2,000 monument to bigotry cost approximately 76 billion dollars.
Since Mexico had been steadfast in their refusal to pay for the wall, as voiced clearly by current Mexican President Enrique Nieto and Ex-President Vincente Fox, who was a little more blunt, It will be up to the American tax payer to foot the bill. If the 20% tariff is imposed, as initially brought up by Sean Spicer and confirmed by Trump, it is estimated to cost an additional 60 billion dollars in long term inflation in the U.S., as well as costing approximately 6,000,000 (Edited: Sorry, left out three zeros) jobs.
Whenever and wherever you read or hear the ridiculous lie that Mexico has a huge wall to keep out their southern neighbor’s immigrants, bookmark the Snopes article and this Wikipedia reference to defeat their lies.
