resolution: The Border fence is beneficial to America

1. The United States needs a new comprehensive immigration policy that provides for guest workers, with employers of the workers paying in taxes any costs above what the workers themselves pay. Border security is an essential part of any law providing immigration reform, and a important part of border security is a border fence protecting at least 700 miles of the U.S./Mexican border. Without border security, immigration laws will be ignored. The benefits of the fence include also include minimizing drug and gun smuggling and the potential of terrorist incursions. 2. The costs of illegal immigration into the United States are staggering. A study by the National Research Council put the cost at $349 billion per year. http://www.rense.com... For example, just a small part of the cost is from 300,000 Mexican women crossing the border to give birth, costing American taxpayers $6000 dollars each in hospital expenses. In addition to that $1.8 billion, each child, then an American citizen must be educated through 12 years of schooling at about $9,000 per year. That adds $30 billion to the bill. On the federal level, welfare costs alone exceed taxes paid by $2600 per immigrant, amounting to $40 billion per year. $100 billion in cost is attributed to wages depressed by illegal workers. Much of the costs are borne by the states, for education, health, and welfare. Six years ago, the cost to California was put at $10.6 billion per year. http://usgovinfo.about.com... In Arizona, illegal immigrants now take $1.6 billion from Arizona's education system, $694.8 million from health care services, $339.7 million in law enforcement and court costs, $85.5 million in welfare costs and $155.4 million in other general costs - total of $2.7 billion. http://www.foxnews.com... "Analysis of the latest Census data indicates Texas's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more than $4.7 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to more than $3.7 billion per year." http://www.fairus.org... It is not only the border states that have a problem. For example, the cost of illegal immigrants in Maryland is put at $1.3 billion. http://www.prnewswire.com... According to CNN, illegal Mexican immigrants sent $22B to Mexico in 2008. http://answers.yahoo.com... The exact costs of illegal immigration are not known. Nonetheless, even the most conservative cost estimates are many tens of billions of dollars each year. 3. Con claims that a border fence might cost $49 billion over 20 years. That estimate is from a partisan group and is four years old. Since then we have actual data on what a large portion of the fence has actually cost. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the completed fence will cost $8.9 billion over 20 years http://www.cbsnews.com... That is about $0.44 billion per year, not the $2.5B per year claimed. If the fence stops only a tiny percentage of illegal immigration the cost is justified. Based upon $349 billion total cost, it would be justified if only one illegal in 750 were deterred. Con cites fence repair costs of about $0.015 B, a trivial amount on the scale of immigration costs. Maintenance was included in the GAO estimates. 4. There is no question that a fence deters illegal entry into the US. "Bernacke, the patrol agent, says that since the triple fence was finished in October, there has been a 72 [sic, it's 94] percent decline in illegal migrant apprehensions in the 120-mile swath of the US-Mexican border known as the Yuma sector. Eight hundred people used to be apprehended trying to cross the border here every day. Now, agents catch 50 people or fewer daily." http://www.csmonitor.com... "Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double — and in some places, triple — fencing." http://www.npr.org... Con's assertion that a fence is "a minor setback" to immigrants is clearly false. 5. Con falsely asserted that a border fence was supposed to "magically stop" illegal immigration. Nonsense. What it is suppose to do is deter a fraction of illegal immigration. The fraction needed to justify it is tiny, but a fence demonstrably deters a great deal more than that minimum. 6. A fence is beneficial and would be fully justified if just to mitigate drug smuggling, arms smuggling, and protection from terrorism. One objective is prevent trucks from being run across the border carrying drugs or, potentially, terrorist weapons of mass destruction. In 2006, over a half million pounds of drugs and contraband were seized n the Tucson border patrol sector alone, much of it trucked across the border. http://www.newswithviews.com... Last year 1.2 million pounds were seized in the Tucson sector, and this year is on a pace to break that record. http://www.cbp.gov... The Tucson sector is now the most active because it is one of the areas that would benefit from a fence, but still does not have one. Until a vehicle-barrier fence was constructed Organ Pipe National Monument, on the border in eastern Arizona, was a major crossing point. "Trucks, SUVs and other vehicles afford smugglers the easiest way to bring large numbers of immigrants or heavy loads of marijuana from Mexico through vast, remote expanses of sun-baked desert." http://www.nctimes.com... The San Francisco Examiner reports that terrorists are recognizing the weak border security. "According to authorities global Islamic terrorist have moved into Mexico and other Latin American countries to open the door for Mexican cartels to have excess to Afghanistan opium at bargain basement prices, those profits from those sales are being passed on to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations worldwide to attack the states from within. Hezbollah is known to be raising money for their cause in the U.S and some Americans say they have brought [suit]case dirty [bombs] into the U.S. and are waiting for further instructions. ... High level Mexican military and government sources revealed that U.S. Special Forces and DEA agents are operating in Mexico." http://www.examiner.com... Some portion of the US-Mexican border is in terrain too rugged for vehicles to traverse, so vehicle-barrier fences are not need over the entire border. 7. Perfect border security is not possible, just as it is not possible to prevent all bank robberies or homicides. However, making border security as solid as possible minimizes the amount of illegal immigration and smuggling, and as well as the terrorist threat. The cost of circumventing good security is too high or it is too risky for ordinary job-seeking immigrants. That allows border patrol agents to focus on the dangerous threats. Fences work. The resolution is affirmed. ======= Con has not linked his references to his claims. Does he expect me to build his case for him based on reading assignments? I refuted the linked data in this round because not much is cited, but it is poor use of references.