DOES TRUMP’S EFFORT TO GET MEXICO TO REIN IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTE A RETURN OF THE BERLIN WALL? “Defenders of Trump’s action could argue that there is a distinction between locking people in completely and ‘merely’ preventing them from leaving for a specific destination (such as the US). But surely we would still condemn the Berlin Wall if the East German government had said its purpose was to block its citizens from moving to the West, but they were still free to leave for other communist nations.”

If the Berlin Wall had stopped people from going to West Germany while they were allowed to go to every other country in the world — which is the correct analogy here — then it wouldn’t have been a big deal. In addition, Trump’s effort is in part to stop Mexico from allowing (or maybe encouraging) migrants from Central America to pass through Mexico and enter America illegally. That doesn’t fit the Berlin Wall analogy at all. Which is because it’s a dumb analogy that doesn’t remotely match the facts at hand.

If this is the strongest argument against Trump’s immigration policy, then Trump’s immigration policy is safe.