How some CBP agents feel about the wall has no bearing on the actual realities of building a wall. People don’t dismiss the idea out of hand because of the people who hold the idea, but because _it’s an objectively bad idea_. And that’s after “doing my own research”. Did your friend ask those agents how we would pay for the wall? Or how we would maintain 2,000+ miles of wall? Or how we would handle the massive ecological damage caused to migratory species?

And do keep in mind that it’s possible to be a racist without explicitly saying it. This can of worms never opens well on HN, because 99.9% of the people here have always had pleasant interactions with the police (i.e. they’re white), but American law enforcement, especially CBP, tends to hold certain views about people who aren’t white, and that’s how you wind up with immigrants being denied basic things like water and medicine.