Build a Fence and Crime Will … Do Nothing

Apparently President Trump has decreed that the new Republican slogan is “Build a wall and crime will fall.” As we all know, what he really means by “wall” is a steel bollard fence, just like the one we finished building in 2010 over about 600 miles of the southern border. So how did that turn out? Did crime fall after the fence went up?

It looks to me like violent crime was falling in the border states pretty nicely, but then then it stopped falling when the fence went up. So much for that theory.

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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