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The Border Fence Essay

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Brian Wagner
Eng-1102-115
Essay #1- The Border Fence
9/16/13

In the essay “The Fence of Lies” the author Mario Vargas Llosa’s thesis is that the border fence between Mexico and the United States is a bad idea and a waste of taxpayer’s money. Some of the main points he uses to strengthen his argument are that it is purely a political ploy to get officials re-elected, that the fence is far too costly and the construction will never happen, and the money should be spent elsewhere. In addition, we should allow immigrants an open door policy into our country because of the immense contribution they make to our economy and that they are willing to do the jobs that most Americans will not. Vargas Llosa’s most compelling argument is that …show more content…

He uses an example of this woman Emerita, who emigrated from Guatemala and started up a housecleaning business, through hard work and persistence, is making $96,000 dollars a year. He does not say if she is legal now, but uses this as a generalization of the type of people we are denying into our country by not having an open border. I do not believe that this woman portrays the average migrant worker in our country. Most work for less than minimum wage, have no benefits, and do not pay taxes, which; are the main reasons Americans are unwilling to work those jobs, not because they are afraid of hard work as Vargas Llosa implies. In addition, he does not mention the gunrunners, drug smugglers and possible terrorists who would all have free access in or out of our country as well. Immigration into our country is a privilege for these people not a right, so why should we, as Americans, not have the right to be selective about who we let in? As an alternative to this point, Vargas Llosa states that if we wish to stop this flow of people into our country then we should use that “6 billion” (1) dollars to create jobs and try to stimulate opportunities south of the border. This statement is a bit of a stretch considering that the U.S. went into a recession

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