The US-Mexico Border Fence is a Good Idea

First of all, to counter my opponents' points:a) The fences along the border interrupt the movement of wildlife within its natural habitat. Two species affected are the Reticulate Collared Lizard and Coues' Rice Rat in Texas. While environmental concerns are certainly serious and warrant consideration, we need to balance competing interests here. Only a handful of species that would be threatened by this project, and the endangered species in question can be moved into specially-designed preservation facilities that mimic the natural habitat. On the other hand, there is no other truly effective way to stop illegal immigrant crossings. In this sense, the local environment is a sacrifice of necessity. b) The barriers along the border make it more and more dangerous for illegal immigrants to cross into the United States, but yet fail to stop them. It only leads them to take more risky actions, such as cross rivers and gain assistance from smugglers and drug dealers, which can easily go badly. The role of concentrated fencing around urban areas in particular is to prevent immigrants from blending immediately into a city population, and in that sense, it has been effective. Even if you divert some illegal immigrant traffic elsewhere along the border, fencing still reduces overall rates of crossing by forcing those who would cross to go through more dangerous and barren territory. This is a significant deterrent. Although there are people who partake in riskier courses of action to continue to cross, most of the would-be illegal immigrants are deterred. You can also step up border patrols in the areas that do not cover the fence to catch drug smugglers and other illegal border crossers. This reduces the overall number of border patrol agents required to catch would-be illegal immigrants, and as a result, reduces the long-term costs of border protection measures. The fence is meant to be merely a tool in the tool box, not a comprehensive solution to the problem of illegal immigration.c) The barriers make it harder for those who simply want a better life in the United States. With the fences in place, any who want to immigrate to the US have to go through much more difficult, and sometimes dangerous, paths to escape from drug-related violence, poverty, or whatever it is that has motivated them to leave their homes. Law-abaiding citizens have no reaon to fear the border fence. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is an extensive government department that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. Their mission is to secure America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to their customers and granting immigration and citizenship benefits. They will allow people who deserve who possess good character, good work ethic, and a good record to enter the United States. The border fence is only to prevent illegal immigration.Next, to rebuff my opponents' counterpoint:a) Although the number of immigrants crossing the border in certain areas may have decreased, the overall number of immigrants has done quite the opposite. In the year 1992, there were an estimated 3.4 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, or 1.3% of the American population. By 2011, the number had increased to 11.5 million, or 3.7% of the population. Meaning, there were more than three times as many illegal immigrants in the United States in 2011 than in 1992. [1] Clearly, the border fence is failing to actually stop illegal immigration, and is simply making it more costly and more dangerous for Mexicans, and increasing taxes for Americans. The goal of the fence is to reduce illegal immigration rates, not eliminate them. You say that the number of of illegal immigrants have greatly increased. That is true. But the amount of apprehensions made have decreased by 72% since the construction of the border fence. Yes, there are three times as many illegal immigrants residing in the US, but have you ever thought what the number might have been if there wasn't a border fence? It's true that illegal immigration that will continue to be a problem in the near future, but the border fence is the first step to solving it. And the overall cost of securing the border has actually decreased due to the fact that manning the fence requires less manpower and equipment then physicaly patrolling the border. Sources:- http://www.csmonitor.com...- http://www.washingtonpost.com...- http://idebate.org...