Seth Meyers has some pretty basic unanswered questions about Trump's Mexico border wall

Seth Meyers has some questions about the Trump border wall

(Image credit: Late Night)

last updated 23 February 2017

President Trump is moving fast, if erratically, to fulfill his campaign pledges about kicking out undocumented immigrants and building a wall along the Mexico border in an attempt to keep them out. Seth Meyers said he's confused about the rationale for this push, because more Mexicans are leaving the U.S. than coming in, and immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S. "And yet despite the reality about immigration, Trump is still moving ahead with his plans to ramp up deportations and build a border wall," he said on Wednesday's Late Night.

"Now, there are still many questions about Trump's wall, including who will build it," Meyers said. "And apparently before he even took office, Trump started reaching out to private developers to see if they'd be interested." One developer, Jorge Perez, a longtime friend and business partner of Trump in Miami, was underwhelmed by the offer he received to build the border wall, telling Bloomberg, "The wall is the most idiotic thing I've ever seen or heard in my life." "And for someone who has known Donald Trump for years, that's a high bar," Meyers said.

Then there's the shifting definition of what constitutes a "wall," with the barrier sketched out by Trump officials much different (and less solid) than the giant, "beautiful" wall Trump talked about during the campaign, and some Republicans, especially in Texas, are balking at Trump's wall plans. "So Trump wants to spend as much as $20 billion on a wall that even some Republicans think won't work, but don't worry, Trump adviser Stephen Miller said there's no need to worry about who will pay for the wall," because the wall will somehow pay for itself, Meyers said. "Look, these immigration policies are cruel, they're unnecessary, and ineffective — even many Republicans think so." He introduced a game called "douchebag charades" to illustrate what those Republicans and Democrats can tell Trump. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.