What alternatives to Trump’s wall are reasonable?

Someone under the threat of gang violence could move to a different city or state, or stay at any other country they pass through on their way to the US.

You do realize that most of these people are coming from countries where the issues are nationwide don't you? You don't move a few city blocks in Honduras and suddenly you're safe. Political and economic instability, threats of gang violence and a general lack of opportunity all lead to a situation where the US is their best chance. Staying in countries along the way isn't really an option either. The US has a powerful demand for their labour, they can actually start a life there. If they stop in Mexico, pretty much their only option to survive is charity. Mexico has no shortage of cheap labour. The US is where that labour is needed.

A wall would definitely stop the kind of illegal immigrants you've described.

Yes. If illegal immigrants ran on the AI from a 90s video game where they encounter an obstacle and just keep walking into it. In the real world, you have ladders, tunnels, boats to go around and the simple fact the border is WAY too fucking big and even if Trump got the funding he's asking for it wouldn't come close to an actual border wall. It would barely upgrade the existing border fence and that's been bypassed. Even an actual wall is useless when there are thousands of miles of it and anyone wanting to cross just needs 20 minutes and a ladder.

If you can't punish them, make sure they don't get here in the first place.

Which doesn't work. The border is too big, the requirements to secure it too high and the incentives to cross it too strong. If you want to stop people crossing the border, the only thing that works is targeting those incentives—the companies that make fortunes off of the labour of illegal immigrants. Until you remove those, the border will NEVER be secure because someone who does get across gets exactly what they want.

/r/PoliticalDiscussion Thread Parent