Would it be a good idea to build a massive border fence?

The U.S-Mexican Border is 1,969 miles. What if we set up a double barbed wire fence and a 100 yard “No man’s land” buffer zone rigged with land mines? Even given a generous budget of a million per mile of fence, it would cost us two billion dollars. Chump change in comparison to the overall federal budget.

If, as many conservatives argue, illegal immigrants cost us more than they give us in tax revenues, the enhanced border security will easily pay for itself by saving taxpayers billions. Potential illegals won’t get in, and thus we wouldn’t have to spend tax money on health care and other services for them.

Most illegals just come through as day-visitors, then just don’t leave. Disallowing entry, alone, might reduce the number that come in by some significant amount.

Charging them a fee to get in, as an alternative, could help finance a fence and policing to keep them out.

Reducing or eliminating minimum wage could, similarly, keep them out.

There’s no particular need to spend our money to keep them out.

OK, I’ll be the first to ask it.

Whom do you think you would be hiring to build this fence?

It would provide jobs for all the illegals. Tell them they can get the jobs if they change to Guest Worker status with a promise to return to Mexico. Double the benefit.

Can we move it a little further north to the Mason-Dixon line?

Whoever we normally hire to do that sort of thing. :stuck_out_tongue:

Mexican day laborers. The trick is to make sure that when they put that last section up, they wind up on their side and we wind up on ours.

Only if tax dollars and retirees arent allowed to flow across it either :slight_smile:

I take it you don’t mind those illegally crossing the US-Canadian border everyday? That border is 4,000 miles long and reportedly patrolled only by 300 Border Patrol agents.

More seriously, I don’t think we’d have much of a problem with finding workers. We’ve got an unemployment rate approaching 10%. People would flock to sign up for this.

The border is out in the middle of nowhere. An out-of-work programmer in Seattle isn’t even going to consider a three month job in frickin Texas to build a fence out in the middle of the desert.

Over mountains and deserts? And it would have to be maintained indefinitely and heavily patrolled too; I think you underestimate the cost.

How often are conservatives right about anything? And they pay billions in taxes for minimal services. WE are exploiting THEM, not the other way around.

Ah, but those are white people. And probably have more money too.

So, we get to treat criminals (illegals) like wage slaves with no real rights ! THATS why we should let them in according to you?

Yee haw, thats moral justitication / position I can get behind!

Step 3 Profit !

It doesn’t matter. Smugglers can tunnel under the fences. Push come to shove, they can swim the Gulf of Mexico.

Besides which, the idea that illegals cost us money is a fallacy.

They’re not criminals!

Seriously, labor regulations were not designed to felonize this behavior. “Illegals”–actually undocumented workers–are not felons, they’re not dangerous criminals, they’re just violating a stupid labor law that was instituted for silly cynical reasons.

In recent years, there has a been a push to write state law making non-compliance with this stupid federal regulation a felony. Which is even more inane.

Just repeal the damn law, let people work where they want.

Actually they’re illegally in the country. They’ve entered the country illegally or illegally stayed past their visa limit; they’ve illegally sought employment; they have often illegally supplied false documentation to an employer; and, they have often worked illegally due to not filing for the proper documentation.

So yes, they are illegals and wanted criminals.

Smaller-scale versions of this have been proposed. The project appears to be neither as straightforward nor as inexpensive as you suggest:

Your land-mine idea hasn’t yet found its way into such legislation, AFAIK, but I wonder if it might be damaging to US public relations for us to become known for deliberately blowing the legs off trespassers who are mostly just responding to the employment opportunities willingly provided by US employers looking for a docile, hardworking, and low-paid labor force.

(A disclaimer is probably necessary here to alleviate the concerns of whatever border-security aficionados may be reading this: No, I’m not in favor of open borders or Mexican annexation of the US Southwest, nor do I think that illegal border crossing is okay. However, I do think that getting blasted by a landmine for illegal border crossing qualifies as excessively punitive.)

So, if you can’t keep out every single one, dont even bother?

Give us the numbers how they SAVE us more than they cost then. I am waiting with baited breath.

No, we should make it easier for them to get in legally.

Due to a system designed to create that situation, in order to make their exploitation easier.

One example: