The United States Should Build a Border Fence

I. Necessary SecurityI have seen this image before and I support this concept of a border fence, this is to also help out my opponent for the idea I have: It's a double fence with two walls based on Hadrian's Wall. There are five primary obstacles for people. Among these are the two walls and a barbed wire period in the middle. A road would run between the two walls for the Border Patrol. There are also underground movement sensors if people get through the barbed wire. This fence is actually used on the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It's a simple way to stop illegal immigrantion here. Kind of like how in houses in the everyday United States people build fences to protect their property. [1]The situation on the border is outrageous. By July 2014 some 290,000 illegal immigrants had fled to the United States this year. The costs far outweigh the benefits: "Few of the illegal immigrants are high-school graduates, or have skills that would allow them to earn more than they cost to federal, state and local taxpayers." [2]Research from the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that the illegal immigrantion costs the American taxpayers $113 billion a year. $52 billion of that goes to educating illegal children. Most illegal immigrants are not taxpayers and receive tax credits from the Treasury, so the costs are extremely heavy. Illegal immigration should not happen at all and must be stopped. Immigration policy should be based off skilled workers and who are able to provide more benefits than costs to the United States. [3]National costs for housing illegal immigrants in prison is $7.8 billion. Regarding specific states near the Mexico border, here's the percentage of illegal immigrants in state prisons:California - 12.7%Arizona - 11.7%Nevada - 7.4%Texas - 5.5%New Mexico - 5.4% These costs for illegal immigrants in prison are too high and there should be 0 percent of illegal immigrants in prisons. [5] Quickly regarding the arms smuggling issue, a fence would obviously prevent such smuggling across the border. Back in 2013, over 250,000 guns were smuggled into Mexico. With increased security measures, that will not happen. The same goes with drug tarfficking. [5]II. Cost Effective Most fencing passed by the federal government has been largely inefficient, but a double fencing system has been proven to work. San Diego has done this and it has worked wonderfully:"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." [6]Building a fence would cost around $2.6 billion to $7 billion as the cost of a double fence costs $3.8 million to $10 million per mile. The yearly cost would be about $200 million per year to keep up with any repairs or amortized construction. The fence would probably last for several decades, so it is increasingly cost effective would prevent higher taxpayer costs for the United States. In addition, illegal immigration costs would obviously decrease over time, so the fence would pay for itself. [7]An example of another border fence working is the Israeli-Egyptian border fence, which has stopped more than 2,000 people from crossing at a construction cost of just $400 million, or $2.8 million per mile. [8]For all these reasons, a border fence must be built.Sources 1. Tilford, Robert. "Fences Going up to Keep People out All over the World."Examiner.com. Examiner, 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2015. 2. Munro, Neil. "Border Meltdown: Obama Delivering 290,000 Illegals To U.S. Homes." Dailycaller.com. The Daily Caller, 05 July 2014. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.3. Martin, Jack, and Eric A. Ruark. "The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigrants on United States Taxpayers." FairUS.org. The American Federation for Immigration Reform, July 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.4. http://www.fairus.org...5. Johnson, Tim. "MEXICO CITY: 253,000 U.S. Guns Smuggled to Mexico."McClathyDC.com. McClathyDC, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.6. Robbins, Ted. "San Diego Fence Provides Lessons in Border Control."NPR.org. National Public Radio, 06 Apr. 2006. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.7. http://www.globalsecurity.org...8. http://articles.latimes.com...