Trump's wall is a 12th-century solution to 21st-century problem

Depending on where and when you cross, a one-way trip across the U.S. border can now cost as much as $4,000. If Trump ever builds his wall -- or even a generic version of it -- the price will jump to $8,000.

Trump always brags about how smart he is because he went to an Ivy League college.

Here's what I picked up when I took a break from attending an Ivy League college to enroll for a year as a visiting student at a state college back home in Central California: Employing a strategy that strengthens your adversary is, well, not smart.

As someone who has covered the immigration debate for more than 25 years, I feel like I've been writing about the concept of a border wall since California belonged to Mexico.

Don't let the fact that I'm Mexican-American fool you. I want to give the Border Patrol what they've been demanding from politicians for years with no luck: tunnel-detection equipment, roads along the border, the most sophisticated technology. You see, I'm in favor of border security. I'm just not in favor of dumb ideas that backfire and do more harm than good.

While in San Diego, Trump told a crowd of supporters that California wants the wall, and San Diego wants the wall.

Actually, according to polls, both statements are fake news. The only people who want a wall are California's newest and whiniest minority: Republicans.

But since California is a deep-blue state where Democrats in the state legislature can pass whatever pieces of ridiculous legislation they like -- and believe me, they come up with plenty -- without a single Republican vote, who cares what the GOP thinks? In this state of nearly 40 million people, it sometimes feels as if you could stick all the Republicans into a publicly financed football stadium.

How did my home state get this broken? Like this: Back in the 1990s Republicans in California took leave of their senses over immigration and alienated the gigantic Latino population by proposing dumb, overly punitive ideas that backfired and did more harm than good.

Thank goodness that sort of thing doesn't happen anymore.

========

Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.