Merkel's Message In Mexico: Border Walls Solve Nothing

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up on the oppressive side of the Berlin Wall, shared a message with Mexico’s president that also took a shot at President Donald Trump: Walls create more problems than they solve.

Merkel was on a weekend state visit to Mexico, the border with which Trump made the centerpiece of his campaign by vowing to build an impenetrable war to stop illegal migration.

Merkel also has taken heat in her own home country for opening the borders to more than a million refugees seeking safe haven from wars in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

'Walls Will Not Solve The Problem'

"Obviously the main reason for people leaving must be addressed on site first, which means putting up walls and cutting oneself off will not solve the problem," Merkel said Saturday, according to Reuters.

"It's an issue you can study well in the history of China with the (Great) Wall of China, you can study it in the history of the Roman Empire. Essentially, only when great empires have managed to forge sensible relationships with their neighbors and to manage migration has it been a success," she said.

"I don't think that by simply improving the border facilities you can solve the problem," she told a panel discussion alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Germany is among many countries, some bound together by the NATO alliance, that have seen relations with Trump turn sour.

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Image: Philipp, Flickr