During his campaign trail, President Donald Trump made statements regarding illegal immigration on the southern border of the United States by highlighting the issues of immigration and drug trade. His proposition to solve the problem was to build a wall that was financed by the Mexican government. Former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said that under no circumstances will the Mexican government pay for the wall and according to The Independent, current Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will not allow the wall to be built. President Trump’s proposition to ‘build the wall’ will not fix the issues stated, instead cause more.

Over the course of Trump’s presidency, he has stated that the illegal immigrants from Mexico are bringing crime and illegal substances into the United States. However, that is not entirely accurate. According to the New York Times, studies conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research have supported that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than naturalized citizens. The Department of Justice shows that approximately five percent of inmates in state and federal prisons are non-citizens. While the intention of President Trump’s wall is to keep out immigrants and drug manufacturers, the wall will not stop these people from getting into the United States; they will still find ways in.

Although the goal of building the wall is to stop undocumented immigrants, there is a bigger issue surrounding immigration, visa overstays. Visa overstays are situations where a foreign national remains in the United States longer than the authorized period of time. According to the Center for Migration Studies in New York, These overstays are far exceeding illegal crossings with overstays accounting for 62 percent of the undocumented population in 2016-2017. But as visa overstays are increasing, there has been a decline in immigrants crossing the southern border into America with only 38 percent. America should focus less on crossing the border lines, and more on the validity of visa stays.

The solution to America’s problem of undocumented immigration is to implement a open borders policy. Legalizing all immigration will fix a multitude of problems the American Government is facing. According to Migration Policy Institute, immigration enforcement cost more than $18 billion annually. The money that America would save on immigration enforcement could be better spent on more appropriate measures such as addressing climate change, universal healthcare and free education. This would affect the economic efficiency of both the United States, and the countries sending immigrants to the United States.

The best thing that America and the current administration can do is to start looking at a different way to solve undocumented immigration and stop wanting to build a wall that won’t solve any problem just create more and start to advocate for an open border policy. Because America’s best option is not to keep people out who want to achieve the American Dream, but to let them in with open arms and make America better economically and culturally.