A Border Fence for the US

Let me start by saying that we have an Illegal Immigration problem in the United States. Maybe not as big a problem as some things facing the U.S. today but still something that policy makers need to take a look at. The simple fact is this: a border wall is an effective way for the United States to control who and what it brings across its border. Our Border TodayToday we live in a nation with no border. While undocumented immigration is on the decline and has been since 2003. Even though progress has been made, our nation remains less safe. Not becuase the people who are crossing the border are terrible criminals, its that we don't know who is crossing our border. The PEW Hispanic Center estimates that half of a million people crossed the border in 2014(3). This is a problem that can be fixed. And not as expensively as my oppenent says it will cost. History Of Border FencesWe see many successful examples of border walls around the world today. First let's look at our good friends Israel. Between 2000 and 2005 over 1,000 Israelis were killed by suicide bombers crossing the border and entering the country. Since the building of a double layered security fence.(2) Another example, closer to home, is the double and in some places triple layered security fence in Yuma County. In Yuma there is a fence with quick access for border patrol agents if the first fence were to be cleared. In Yuma county 96% of illegal immigration has been stopped since the building of the border fence. Cost of Border Fence The Israel fence costed around 1.8 Million per mile which with a fence of around 2,000 miles would come in at a rough estimate of 3.6 billion dollars. Of course the cost could be high or lower based on labor and the efficency in which the border was constructed. 3.6 billion sounds like a large cost but let's take a look at the money america would save based on the number of illegal immigrants crossing our border. A report by Heritage Foundation scholar Robery Rector shows that every Illegal immigrant that doesn't make it through the border saves the U.S. $719,350.(1) If that statistic proved to be accurate the U.S. would break even on the border fence if only 5,004 immigrants were stopped from crossing the border. What to do with the Illegals hereThere is an estimated 11.4 million immigrants in hiding in our country for fear that they could be deported if discovered. The first step in the equation is to secure the border in the ways stated above. Once we have secured the border it is time to give these people a path to citizenship. As we have seen with the Amnesty of 1986, we see a big jump in Immigration once amnesty is introduced to the Illegals in the country today. Amnesty in this case has nothing to do with rewarding illiegal activity and the actions of people who crossed the border illegally, and frankly it is none of our business to judge people who had to cross the border for any reason. A path to citizen ship is really the only choice the U.S. has at this place in time. Violent criminals should be deported, but the family of four who came to the greatest nation in the world for a chance at prosperity being deported is a waste of taxpayer money and should not in question if we are really looking for cost effective immigration reform. (1) http://fair.thinkrootshq.com...(2) https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com...;(3) chrome-extension://bpmcpldpdmajfigpchkicefoigmkfalc/views/app.html?uuid=6df390b8-76de-4982-bf06-cc42fe695bff