SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker has spoken out against President Donald Trump's plan to construct a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, saying that "building borders is not the answer." A cornerstone of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, the wall's effectiveness has been questioned by many, with some describing it as "limited at best " and "impractical at worst." Immigration advocacy groups argue it would not stem illegal border crossings. Trump has vowed that Mexico will eventually fund the border wall, which could end up costing well over $21 billion, despite the country repeatedly stating it would not pay. As a German national, Schenker seen how the Berlin Wall — which separated East and West Germany both physically and politically — has had many long-lasting consequences through its division of families, friends, a culture and a nation. Asked by Loudwire what is advice to be to somebody who is in support of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, Rudolf said: "I'll tell you one thing: as we learned, building borders is not the answer. It's not the way. I think that's maybe a momentum, but I think sooner or later the wall will be gone because walls never last a long time. Okay, we have [the Great Wall of China] now, but that's more of a tourist attraction than a wall for keeping other people away from everyone else. In this case, what can I say? I'm not a politician, but I'm very sad when I see things like that because time is going backwards. Some people [are] going away from the wall and taking the wall down and now other people are building one again. It's stupid, but that's the way life goes sometimes." Last month, the House of Representatives earmarked $1.6 billion to be put toward the wall, a fraction of the estimated cost of the project. Rudolf is not the first hard rock musician to voice opposition in public to Trump's proposed border wall. Back in March, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told Mexico's Las Estrellas television network: "I don't think the world needs any walls. I think we need to bring people together." He continued: "METALLICA travels all over the world, and through music we try to bring people together. So whether we're in Mexico or whether we're in Asia or whether we're in Europe or whatever, we encourage as many different people from as many different backgrounds to come together and share music and life and culture and all these experiences."
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