As soon as his victory was confirmed, Donald Trump made his first public appearance as the 47th president-elect of the United States. The issue of immigration and the expansion of the Wall, central pillars of his campaign, were present. “We’re going to have to close the borders, we want people to come, but they have to come legally”, he stated.

In the presidential elections, issues such as migration and border closure were decisive. There is a predominant discourse in the country about the migration crisis, considered the most serious in history at the southern border. According to BBC Brazil, around 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, a stable figure since 2005. Democrats were accused of leaving the borders open and therein lies their defeat. But were Republicans and Democrats diverging or were they making different but converging points?

Contrary to Kamala Harris’ campaign, the Wall was central to Trump’s campaign. For him and his more than 72 million voters (including a large portion of Latino men), the southern border represents one of the biggest challenges to making “America great again.” The Wall, not only would address uncontrolled migration into the country, but it could also straighten out the national economy. After all, for Trump, migration and the economy go hand in hand.

Throughout the 20-point plan of his administration, the issues of migration and the economy are closely intertwined. It is clear that the recovery of employment for the “Forgotten Men and Women of America” goes through the expulsion of undocumented immigrants, responsible for overloading the labor market and devaluing wages.

Republicans claim the mission of securing the border, deporting “illegal” foreigners and reversing the “open borders” policies promoted by Democrats that have not only taken away jobs, but have increased the cost of housing, education and health care for “American” families.

However, not all immigrants will be barred from entering the country. According to the future Vice President, JD Vance, the Republicans plan to select those best suited to fill specific jobs. Apparently, the Wall will help them with this selection.

The obsession with the Wall

This obsession did not exactly start with Trump. Contrary to his claims, he did not create it. The Wall, in practice, appeared shortly after Donald Trump entered politics. And, most likely, it will continue to exist after he is a memory. It became a national fixation, capable even of transcending differences between administrations of Republicans and Democrats. The Wall might have become an institution of the American state.

Bush Sr. started it, dividing San Diego from Tijuana; Bill Clinton used Vietnam War leftovers to expand the fortification; Bush Jr. counted on Democratic representatives like Obama and Hillary to reinforce the fence; Obama pumped in $600 million and added another 200 kilometers. Trump, in his first term, built 130 km and Biden was “careful” to close the gaps in the Wall.

Indeed, governments invest in the Wall. They expand it and retread it. It warms the hearts of Americans who see the American dream or their pets threatened by their Latino neighbors. However, they probably also know that the country’s real problems are not at the border, but in a continuing and seemingly irreversible geopolitical, financial, economic and social decline.

The symbolic value

The Wall offers political and symbolic breathing space when presidents feel trapped. When popularity falls or the middle-class crisis intensifies, that is when Democrats and Republicans seem to search for help. Among so many scapegoats, Latin Americans occupy a central place. It is not a Wall of lamentations, but of immediate solutions. To evoke the Wall is to rescue the ideals of the Nation. And Trump knows this very well.

Like other presidents, Trump also understands that immigration control is not limited to the Wall or beyond. It involves actions apart from lining up tall steel columns. Strengthening the borders requires progress in the Americas, through incisive bilateral agreements. But not only. When necessary, it is also possible to blackmail economically and make unilateral decisions. Every U.S. president needs partners willing to do the dirty work. Recall Biden’s slogan, during the 2022 Summit of the Americas, “No nation should shoulder this responsibility alone.”

In his first term, Trump knew how to use this resource. Seemingly antagonistic political figures worked alongside him. This was, for example, the case of the then presidents of Mexico, López Obrador, and Brazil, Bolsonaro, in containing Venezuelans and Brazilians before they reached the Wall.

However, Trump understands that the focus is on the Wall. More than working effectively, he knows that migration policy must be spectacular. It is not enough to simply contain potential immigrants, even before they think about leaving home. This does not give visibility. They need to be sentenced in public and the Wall allows this. This may have been the “mistake” of Kamala, Biden’s appointee to solve the immigration crisis. In outsourcing their immigration policy, the Democrats focused excessively on their outside “collaborators” and left the Wall for later. 

Kamala visited Mexico and the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), where the “roots” of the migration problem are supposedly located, and told the Guatemalans: “Do not come to us”. She continued to move through the Americas and sent delegations to several countries. Ecuador and Colombia signed agreements to receive Venezuelans in an “orderly manner”. Since July of this year, Panama has been a partner in the aerial deportation of migrants who risked crossing to the North. But these actions seem to have been ignored by a public thirsty for immediate results, which only the Wall offers.

When it came time to invest heavily in the border, where the Wall is, the Senate, dominated by Trump’s Republicans, denied the bill allocating $118.2 billion for that purpose. Biden and Kamala were unable to complete the bill and this sounded like a divergent policy from Trump’s.

Trump understands reality TV. For years, he pointed his finger at alleged failures and said, “You’re fired!” He knew this had great popular appeal. Especially from Americans sitting on endless piles of bills to pay, in an attempt to support the ideal of the “American way of life.” Already president, Trump understood that the Wall had to be his big stage. And he would not give it up to win another term, even though he knows that the Wall alone will not solve the crisis. Over the next four years, Trump, and the Wall will once again gain prominence and applause from an audience angry and frightened by the world of abundance that has gone away.

_{*Translated by Janaína Ruviaro da Silva from the original in Spanish.}