The Berlin Wall kept people trapped in a place where they had less freedom and opportunity, and prevented them from emigrating to a place of greater freedom and opportunity. President Reagan said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Now we have a president, of the same party as Reagan, who wants to build a massive concrete prison wall on our southern border. It will have the same impact on the Mexicans as the Berlin Wall had on the East Germans. For those who argue that the Mexican border wall is designed to keep people out, and not in, and is therefore okay, I ask: Then the Berlin Wall would have been okay if the West Germans had built it? Or, that the Mexican border wall would be immoral if the Mexicans built it, but not if we build it? Then what if the Mexicans are paying for it?