Whether you like the idea of President Trump’s wall or not, almost everyone should be able to agree that, as a country, we need better border security.
When looking at different sources, illegal immigrants could cost the United States anywhere from around $55 billion annually to even up to a net cost of $116 billion annually according to The Heritage Foundation and FAIR. A wall, or other spending dedicated to securing our southern border might not be a guarantee that these costs will go down in the short term; however, it definitely couldn’t hurt in any way. Also, it would probably help keep the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. down and therefore keep the fiscal burden down as well.
When Donald Trump addressed the nation from the oval office, he stated that he had requested $5.7 billion from Congress for the border wall. The annual federal budget this year is $4.407 trillion according to The Balance. Using that figure, it can be found that a wall would only be about 0.13% of the annual national budget, so the notion that a wall is ridiculously expensive is overblown.
Some news sources and politicians say a wall would be ineffective. This idea is easily debunked with results shown from parts of the southern border that already have some sections of a ‘wall.’ An example of this would be the fence on the border near El Paso, Texas. According to the New York Post, the number of illegal crossings when the fence first started being built in 2006 was a whopping 122,261. Just four years later in 2010 when the construction of the fence was completed, the number of crossings shrank to just 12,251. Also, there is data shown in the same article showing the reduction of crime in El Paso since the fence has been constructed. Looking at this, it is pretty obvious that barriers along the border are a reliable way to help the immigration crisis.
All in all, I think both parties should compromise on a way we can increase border security.
