President Donald Trump addressed the nation on January 8, 2019 regarding border security on the US’s southern border. With his election campaign from late 2015 promising to secure the border and assure how immigrants enter the country, along with the rise of the recent migrant caravan in Tijuana, it comes as no surprise that Trump wants to put a move on getting the promised wall built.

The address itself only lasted around nine minutes, but it served its purpose: bringing awareness to exactly why he wants to build the wall without the media twisting words or putting things out of context. A national address gives people a chance to hear directly from the head of our country and with the facts.

What Trump spoke of in the address is true: we as a nation can no longer tolerate the amount of illegal immigration plaguing our country. As he puts it, “we are out of space to hold them.” We have our own to look out for who are in poverty and in need of help. There are hundreds of thousands of homeless alone in the US who cannot get jobs or sustain themselves and their families. While all of these American citizens are suffering on the streets or struggling to put food on the table, many illegal immigrants are receiving jobs that are only offered to them because they have no documentation, leaving the employers free to pay them off-book and less than the minimum wage.

Many people will and have tried to say that Trump is attempting to demonize all immigration or the immigrants themselves, which couldn’t be further from the truth. What he is against is “uncontrolled illegal migration.” If we do not control our borders, we will be unprotected from the flood of immigrants that will no doubt rush into the country. Trying to protect ourselves from illegal immigrants by no means means that we are labeling all illegal immigrants as “animals” or rapists, but it does mean that we want to lower the risk of dangerous individuals or groups, like MS-13, from entering the country and posing a threat to our people. The president is well aware of the threat people with criminal records pose and is determined to make sure he keeps us as safe as possible with this wall.

With the thousands of migrants waiting outside the border, many of whom were rushing the border not too long ago, the need for a wall is only increasing. We as a country cannot allow them to think that we are okay with people who assume they can break our laws. If they want to have access to the US and our benefits, then they have to go wait in line like everyone else. Unless they are in danger and apply for asylum, it is not fair to the immigrants who waited their due time to get permission to enter the country and apply for citizenship if these people simply get to cut the line.