In the 2016 presidential race, Donald Trump controversially ran on a platform that highlighted building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in order to help reduce and deter the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs over the border.

During his presidency, to fund the wall the Trump administration redirected $2.5 billion in funds from the Pentagon. According to the notice transmitted to Congress, Trump's administration said the alteration of funds was in aid of "higher priority items" that was "essential in the national interest." The United States Supreme Court also allowed the building of a fence or wall along the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Before Trump took office, there were 654 miles (just over 1,000km) of barrier along the southern border - made up of 354 miles of barricades to stop pedestrians and 300 miles of anti-vehicle fencing. At the end of Trump's presidency, he stated in a speech at the border wall in Alamo, Texas that construction of new wall hit a milestone of 450 miles.

Opponents of finishing the wall believe that the wall will be ineffective at decreasing border crossings and is ultimately a waste of money. This includes President Joe Biden, who in his first day in office halted the construction of the border wall. However, Republican governors are in the process of building new sections of barriers in their states with hundreds of millions of dollars in government and private funding. Federal regulations have delayed attempts by the Biden Administration to cancel numerous wall-construction contracts issued by Trump in his final weeks in office.

The question for debate, should the U.S. finish building a federal #tax dollar funded #wall along the southern U.S. border?