At the Washington Post, Robert Samuelson blogs "Building the wall would be so worth it" [1]:

For years, I have advocated a wall along our southern border, which would (I believe) discourage illegal immigration without stopping it altogether...

...It’s time to break the stalemate, as I’ve urged before, by striking a compromise that would give each side a partial victory. Trump would get his wall; Democrats, in exchange, would stop the nearly 700,000 "dreamers" - immigrants brought here illegally as children - from being deported.

The art of compromise requires each side to get something it wants and accept something it doesn’t...

...[Trump's requested $18 billion for The Wall is] roughly five one-hundredths of 1 percent. In the budget, it’s a rounding error.

As for Republicans, some of their attitudes toward the DACA dreamers seem wantonly cruel... These immigrants were children when they arrived, hustled over the border by parents and relatives. They had no say in the matter. Most have been raised as American, unfamiliar and uncomfortable with their country of birth. Sending them back would not be a victory for "law and order." It would be an act of inhumanity.

And besides, a society that is aging - as is the United States - needs young people to replace the growing ranks of retiring workers. By itself, this isn’t sufficient to justify allowing the dreamers to stay. But it’s an added dividend...

1. The Democratic Party's "want" for amnesty is pathological. It's not based on what would be best for the USA or even the Dem base, but what would be best for Dem leaders (and to a lesser degree, their funders). The Dems' goal with amnesty is to pad their voting roles, to in effect cheat and to profit from massive illegal activity. They aren't going to stop there: one amnesty will lead to another as the Dems want more power. They'll continue to enable illegal immigration in the hopes of getting another amnesty and more votes. Giving the Dems what they want is enabling corruption.

2. Due to that and also due to a similar dynamic on the GOP side of things, any "Wall" that's built will be under incredible pressure. Its upkeep will be a bargaining chip the Dems will use in the future, just as they're using its construction now. Trump Wall wouldn't be "forever". We'll have spent what is a fairly small amount of money, but it will have tricked people into thinking it was a solution when it was just a boondoggle.

3. DACA recipients and DREAMers aren't "immigrants", they're illegal aliens. Samuelson isn't honest enough to admit that.

4. Samuelson would harm U.S. students and workers; see the DREAM Act page for the details.

5. Samuelson would deprive Mexico and other countries of the people they need in order to avoid becoming even more dysfunctional. See skilled immigration for a more detailed discussion. Further, the elites of Mexico are glad to see DREAMers go: fewer restive people means more power for them. It also means more money sent home to Mexico to paper over their economic issues, and more political power inside the USA. Samuelson - in addition to enabling the Dems' corruption - would enable the corruption of foreign leaders. See Mexican government for extensive background on that.

The smart alternative is a repatriation program. That would help U.S. students and workers and foreign countries.

Either Samuelson can't figure the above out, or he can and he's trying to deceive his readers.

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[1] washingtonpost · com/opinions/building-the-wall-would-be-so-worth-it/2018/01/09/ff603f42-f562-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html