Do You Lock Your Doors At Night?

Do you lock your doors at night? If you answered yes to this question, then tell me why? Do you lock them in order to keep out those you don't know or those who might intend you harm? Do you lock them so strangers cannot enter your house at anytime of day or night? Do locked doors give you a feeling of security? Do you feel locking your doors will keep you and your family safe? Donald Trump promised to build a wall to protect the borders of the United States. Why has this caused such controversy? Will a wall make a difference in the number of undocumented aliens entering the country? Will it stop terrorists, drug cartels and criminals from creating havoc or will it stop the transfer of children over the border to be sold into sex slavery? Will it be better for the citizens of the United States? Is it really necessary?

If you do, in fact, lock your doors at night, then you are already a proponent of the wall and border control. What makes the sovereignty of your home any different from the sovereignty of the United States? Locking your doors at night is the same as building a wall, but on a smaller scale. Should a stranger be able to walk into your home, pick your child's bedroom as his own, partake in your meals, force you pay for their doctor's visits and buy them school supplies? Isn't this exactly the same thing as leaving our borders open and having undocumented immigrants enter our country illegally yet, receive shelter, education and healthcare, paid for by hard-working American citizens. What about money? The United States is currently almost $20 trillion dollars in debt. We have been told that social security will soon be insolvent. Money that we were forced to pay to government with the promise it would be there in our retirements, now no longer. We have been told that there is no money for a cost of living wage increase. We have been told that budgets must be cut and services must be stopped for hard-working Americans. Our schools are overcrowded, our teachers are not getting raises and budgets are stressed. Many of our veterans are homeless, awaiting medical care for days, months and sometimes years. Many of those veterans have died waiting for medical services. We currently have approximately a third of Americans who have dropped out of the labor force giving up on ever finding jobs. The growth of the economy in the United States has remained below 2% for over 7 years, grocery prices are at an all time high, food stamps are currently being used by one in every five Americans and more than 46 million have been spent on food stamps for over 45 months. Based on these figures alone, can the U.S. economy afford to be caring for an additional 30-40 million undocumented immigrants? In the year 2015, the Office of Refugee Resettlement spent $1.56 billion dollars, the majority allocated to funding unaccompanied minors crossing the border from Mexico. The remainder of the funds went to resettlement, medical services, cash and job and language training to approximately 1800 refugees. However, President Obama has plans to let in 10,000 Syrian refugees by September and increasing that number to a total of 100,000 before he leaves office, which will require a much larger chunk of change. The current amount requested to settle new refugees has topped over $55 billion and the government intends on offering free housing, welfare and food stamps. If we look at the additional unauthorized persons who have overstayed their visas and disappeared into the shadows, we can add another 500,000 unauthorized individuals from around the world. As reported in the Washington Times in an article by Stephen Dinan,

"Among these thousands [visa overstays] are from countries connected with terrorism: 219 illegals from Afghanistan, 681 from Iraq, 564 from Iran, 56 from Libya, 1,435 from Pakistan, 440 from Syria and 219 from Yemen in fiscal year 2015 alone."

What about college? Currently, twenty states offer in-state tuition to undocumented students, five states offer state financial assistance to undocumented students. Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Homeland Security under Obama, now University of California system president, recently announced that she will earmark $25.2 million to fund loan programs for illegal students as well as an additional $2.5 million to go to graduate and undergraduate fellowships and funds for textbooks for the same illegal students. The next obvious question would be whether these funds would be going to hard-working American students, whose parents have funded the public education system through their taxes, if they were not promised to illegal students. The United States is the most generous Nation in the world and our country is comprised of immigrants from all over the world. However, should we all be forced to unlock our doors and sit back while immigrants who have chosen to break our laws, come into our homes and take our hospitality to the detriment of our own citizens and families? Do we really need that wall and do you still plan on locking your doors tonight?

Leigh Bravo——Bio and Archives

Leigh Bravo works in the Hospitality and Marketing Industry.  Leigh considers herself a concerned citizen interested in reaching those people who may not be aware of the entire truth. Leigh is happily married and a mother of three looking towards a better future for her kids. Leigh also writes for thetrumpet.me