Hole in the Fence is the first part of a three-part Radiolab podcast about people crossing the US-Mexico border. If you have been following along with the increasingly escalated rhetoric of late (how could you miss it?) then you may find it interesting. It gives a historical perspective of border enforcement policies with a train of events that lead to the modern day issue of Trump's push for a "Great Wall" that Mexico isn't going to pay for.

I believe it was made before the child separation issue blew up so that isn't mentioned, but it does, above all, put a very human-centric view on something that the Trump administration is so desperate to de-humanize into simple "animal" (his word not mine) control operation against murders and rapists.

Having listened to all three parts my conclusion is Trump's actions are entirely consistent with a policy to deter people from crossing at all costs, which includes death. He wanted to throw money at the problem with a wall but that failed. The border is already secure for very large parts where it is easy to cross leaving crossing areas that are lethal to many. Statistics indicate it could be as many as 10,000 people who have died crossing the border since 1994 plus a few hundred shot and killed by border patrol (about 10 a year). But people still accept the very real danger of dying in transit vs. staying home living in poverty or possibly in immediate mortal danger due to gang/drug violence. I think almost no one born in America, least of all Trump, can relate to their situation and level of desperation in a real way, so much easier to just de-humanize them as desperate thieving "animals" right? But put in the same situation I'd bet many would resort to precisely the same actions in the desire to secure a good future for their family.

Now Trump wants to deny people who cross the border due process which is about up there with GWB suspending habeas-corpus in the name of fighting terrorism (can you imagine if a Democrat had ever done that?). The next step will be he will suggest actively shooting people crossing the border, or using a mine-field, or armed drones - anything that looks cruel and scary. It is very unlikely he would actually try to do them though, except by passively or actively condoning vigilante militia proxies. Basically, he wants to make the crossing as dangerous and as unpleasant as possible that people don't try anymore.

Or, we can build his wall for him - which is why he wants to use suffering, pain, and deaths to strong arm the Democrats into supporting the wall. And that my friends is what they call "The art of the deal". He gets the wall and bragging rights. The rest of us get to live in the shadow of the wall and be forever blamed for it. He just wants to brag to his base he got the wall and put one over on those damn libtards.

And the ironic thing is the crime rate will increase as he deports the illegals because statistically, they are 50% less likely to commit a felony as non-illegals therefore, removing these goody-two-shoe illegals from the population increases the crime rate.

Meanwhile, people will still tunnel under and climb over the wall - or go through Trump's Great Fence in the areas that aren't a wall which will be the most dangerous inhospitable areas Trump thinks are impassable, and people will keep dying. Furthermore, the vast majority of illegals that come into this country with a visa and overstay will continue to do so as they have been doing for years now.

The other two parts are:

• Part 2: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/border-trilogy-part-2-hold-line
• Part 3: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/border-trilogy-part-3-what-remains