During the presidential campaign last year, Donald Trump told Mexico that they would pay for the wall on the united States’ southern border. He was mocked and ridiculed by Mexico’s president over the claim before being ready to negotiate with Trump following his election. Now, Trump is pushing Congress to fund the wall, which will be paid by taxpayers, and says that Mexico will repay us.

Breitbart reports:

Deputies for President-elect Donald Trump are pressing Hill Republicans to appropriate funds by April for a quick start to the construction of a border wall, according to CNN.

The quick spending for the wall would be legally authorized by a long-standing 2006 law, which allows the federal government to build 700 miles of double-layer fencing on the border.

“It was not done in the Obama administration, so by funding the authorization that’s already happened a decade ago, we could start the process of meeting Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to secure the border,” GOP Rep. Luke Messer told CNN.

CNN points out, “The move would break a key campaign promise when Trump repeatedly said he would force Mexico to pay for the construction of the wall along the border.”

“We’re in talks with him on the details of it as they’re still putting together their team,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) told CNN. “We still got a few months before there’s another funding bill that’s going to move. We’re going to work with him to make sure we can get it done. We want to build a wall. He wants to build a wall.”

One thing to keep in mind is that while Trump did promise that Mexico would pay for the wall, he never said they would pay for it up front.

Trump defended his repayment plan on Friday and called the media “dishonest.”

“The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!” Trump tweeted.

The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

Trump’s incoming White Hours counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox & Friends on Friday, “Obviously, a centerpiece of Donald Trump’s successful campaign was ‘I’m going to build the wall and have Mexico pay for it.’ That hasn’t changed.”

“But Congress is examining ways … to have the wall paid for through their auspices,” she said. “The president-elect is making the point that he will have Mexico pay it back.”

“He’s going to build that wall, and Mexico is going to pay for it. That hasn’t changed,” she added.

Well, I have my own question about that. Considering that our debt is approaching $20 trillion with no signs of slowing down, I want to know first, how long is it going to take to start getting a payment from Mexico? Second, how much money are we actually talking about in costs to build the wall? Third, since we will have to borrow the money at interest, how much in interest will be added to the debt? Finally, once it is paid back, if it ever is, will that money be sent directly back to the taxpayers with interest?

If the answer is “no” to this, then the American taxpayer is funding this wall entirely. Should Mexico “pay us back” and there is no refund to taxpayers, then politicians can claim Mexico paid the US back, but not the American taxpayer.

With men like Thomas Martinez-Maldonado, who self-deported nine times and then was forcibly deported another ten times before raping a 13-year-old girl, I’m actually questioning how a wall will stop illegal immigration across our border. It will take a lot more than just a wall to deal with that, though I’m not discounting the fact that it could be done.

However, as we’ve seen, because of the size of our country, we know there the northern border is not secure either due to the report form James O’Keefe of Project Veritas. We also know that our beaches are not secure as seen in video where migrants run ashore in full view of everyone.

There is a part of me that is starting to reconsider some of these things and the costs involved. It appears to me that the elimination of the welfare system, along with deportation, which would be cheaper rather than let them stay according to Homeland Security (though it does not ensure those deported don’t return), than amassing the kind of debt the wall will take to build. Elimination of welfare for illegal migrants will cut off the spigot of a lot of illegals. We should also be considering eliminating it for American citizens too. Why is there no talk of this solution? It’s probably because it’s not politically palatable to many voters and politicians.