Donald Trump's Border Wall Would Cost Billions, Experts Say

NBC News ^ | July 23, 2015 | Elizabeth Chuck

[2ndDivisionVet]

Constructing an impassable wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a tall order — even for master real estate developer and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"From a security standpoint, it really is not an intelligent solution," said Eric Olson, associate director of the Latin American program at the non-partisan Wilson Center.

In fact, "it's ludicrous," Olson said of the idea, which has become a hallmark of Trump's campaign.

Experts estimate that building and maintaining such a wall on the 1,954-mile border, which snakes along four huge states, would cost tens of billions of dollars. And the 21,000 border patrol agents currently on duty would be "nowhere near sufficient" to keep close surveillance on all of it, said Wayne Cornelius, director of University of California San Diego's Mexican migration field research program.

"Any kind of border barrier can be climbed over, and to prevent that type of activity, we would have to have not just drones in the sky, but a lot of boots on the ground," he said.

As of now, fences or other physical obstacles cover about one third of the border, areas that can be accessed easily by foot or by car, Cornelius said. Trump wants to wall in the entire border to keep out undocumented Mexican immigrants, who he has called "rapists" and "criminals."(continued)

[Lopeover]

Eric Olson’s opinion is on the wrong side of this argument. We want a wall, we want our immigration laws that are on the books enforced! Obama is a father of two daughters, doesn’t he care about protecting the daughters of American fathers against the rapists & murderers that are flooding across the border because of his policy? Because of the Democrat & GOPe establishment policy? Don’t these politicians care about our children?

[hawkaw]

I agree. It is chump change for the federal government and I don’t have a problem with it.

[BlackAdderess]

So if it were 20 billion dollars, and if we have 12 million illegal immigrants, and taking into account that 40% are due to overstayed visas, you are looking at around $3,000 per person. The Obama administration spent $18 billion in 2012 alone on immigration enforcement. I’ve seen an estimate from FAIR of illegal immigration costing the country $100 billion a year.

[PapaBear3625]

Neither of the Koreas had “tens of billions of dollars” in 1953, yet there sits the DMZ.

You don't need much of a fence when you have soldiers with orders to shoot anybody trying to cross.

[McBuff]

The "Wilson Center" is non-partisan?. . .yea, right

"if you want to understand the real Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface." (the part that declares that our natural rights are endowed by the Creator) Woodhead Wilson

[Paladin2]

Shovel ready jobs....

[ReaganGeneration2]

Today we see one of our largest media organizations permitting itself to print “news” that is totally devoid of fact or logical continuity.

[BigCinBigD]

Extended 100 feet underground. 100 feet high. Gun platforms every 50 yards and set it back 500 feet from the border. Then shoot anyone who gets near it, and leave the bodies to bake in the sun.

[Flintlock]

Walls only work.......

.........WHEN THEY ARE BUILT.

[austinaero]

I don’t care how much it costs - build it!

[nathanbedford]

Where to begin…?

A fence need not be 100% perfect to be good. It is a specious argument that says because a solution is not the perfect solution it should not be employed even though it is a good solution.

A fence is to be regarded as a force multiplier, that is fewer people are required to defend a border, whether in war or border security, because the fence is there. The author implies that the fence will require more personnel when the opposite is the case.

If the terrain is too rough to build a wall, build a fence if the terrain is to rugged to build a fence, it is undoubtedly to rugged for the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants pass through. Those rugged areas can be surveilled by drones which are efficient and cheap because they not require extensive manpower.

If a fence intrudes on private property, the federal government always has the power of eminent domain and federal government does not require a rancher to agree to give up his land, the federal government need only fairly compensate the owner for the very little that would be lost to the rancher of very sandy, very dry, very unproductive landscape.

The contention that, "a wall would stave the flow of undocumented (does the author mean illegal?) Immigrants is preposterous." Did the Berlin wall stop the flow?

The contention:

"There's a billion dollars a day in trade that's going back and forth between the United States and Mexico... Anything that blocks that hurts the United States."

Hurts whom? Does it hurt workers who have been displaced by jobs that have been shipped to Mexico? What is the balance of hurt and who should bear the pain?

The author insists that a wall is not feasible and the proof of that is that one has not yet been built. The fact that one has not yet been built is rather proof of a lack of will on the part of the Washington establishment and their fat cat Benefactors.

No one suggests that a wall along the Mexican border will stop "undocumented immigrants" from flying into American airports and jumping ship. Will the author tell us that not all remedies for this are perfect and therefore we should attempt none?

[PLMerite]

We need to tell Mexico that if they don’t get a handle on THEIR people crossing the border illegally, we’ll build the wall ten miles inside THEIR side of the border. And bulldoze everything from the border to get there.

[Arlis]

Use all convicted criminal illegal immigrants in prison as forced labor to build the wall....with “no work, no food” rule............

[Arm_Bears]

The government pisses away billions just in waste, fraud, and abuse.

Suddenly, there’s a concern for the cost of something it’s supposed to be doing anyway (i.e., protecting US citizens)?

[Erik Latranyi]

Whenever a liberal opposes something on the basis of cost, they should be laughed out of the room.

[wally_bert]

Don’t forget the minefields. Anti personnel and anti tank in case of some kind of ram raid.

[McGruff]

Elizabeth Chuck is a social media and breaking news writer and editor on the news team. Previously, she was an NBC News web producer, creating web-exclusive supplements to various NBC News properties. Prior to joining msnbc.com in 2005, Chuck wrote for the Hartford Courant in Connecticut, concentrating on news, politics and features for the state desk. She holds a degree in French Studies from Wesleyan University.

[RJS1950]

Just divert the billions we waste on these illegal dirtbag invaders to build the wall. Save some of the money by arresting the illegals here and put them on chain gangs to build the wall before we chuck them over the wall.

[uncbob]

There are probably only so many places where it is practical to cross
Russians had no problem keeping people in

[Cboldt]

The correct comparison includes the losses attributable to those in the country illegally, and that isn’t just “entitlement” benefits, it includes death, destruction and mayhem.