President George W. Bush signed a border fence into law in 2006. Those who support the fence claim it will help reduce illegal immigration in an era when the estimated amount of illegal immigrants is at 12 million, with thousands coming in each day. Although this is a great idea on paper, a border wall is useless and will cause nothing but damage.
The most obvious impact is the price of a border wall. The average cost of a mile of wall is $3 million. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, National Guard troops, surveillance equipment and motion detectors are just the basics needed to enforce security. In Israel, the cost of a border wall in the West Bank is more than $1 billion – for just 425 miles and with lower labor costs than those in the U.S.
Although the costs are estimated at $2.2 billion, the actual costs are probably much higher. In San Diego, a 14-mile wall has a total cost of $74 million, far more than $3 million per mile.
The impact on wildlife along the border is rarely discussed. The Sonoran pronghorns of Arizona, whose members are estimated at 70 in the U.S., would be severely impacted by a border wall. Breeding could become difficult for this fragile species, perhaps resulting in its extinction.
In the Lower Rio Grande Valley there are more than 500 bird species, 300 butterfly species and 17 endangered or threatened species. To build the fence the Bush administration bypassed environmental and land-management laws. Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, attempted to justify killing the environment by saying it would prevent illegal immigrants from dumping their waste in a clear case of "two wrongs make a right."
In Texas, the construction of the border fence targets the non-wealthy. Residents of Cameron County are finding the DHS knocking on their doors and leaving condemnation lawsuits to seize land. The University of Texas at Brownsville was threatened with having the campus cut in half, a questionable project as the fencing is intended for areas with high amounts of border crossing and drug trafficking – something the university is not known for. In the meantime, billionaire Ray L. Hunt’s Sharyland Plantation is untouched. Sharyland Plantation is home to plush gated communities and expensive golf courses – in the middle of where a border wall should be as numerous instances of illegal immigration have been observed.
Even Lou Dobbs, the frothy mouthed, anti-illegal immigration pundit, says a border wall is not enough. But Dobbs is dead wrong about a wall "securing the border." A person can go around the wall, under the wall and crawl over the wall. The amount of personnel used to "monitor" the border is insufficient and costly.
If the government really wanted to do something about illegal immigration it would crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants every day – and that doesn’t mean busting a random meatpacking plant every month or so. The border wall is just another feel-good talking point to show that the U.S. is tough on immigration.
Corgey, a political science senior, can be reached via [email protected]
