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Donald Trump's Border Wall Would Cost Billions, Experts Say
NBC News ^ | July 23, 2015 | Elizabeth Chuck

Posted on 07/23/2015 4:33:18 AM PDT by 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)

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; borders; illegalimmigration; immigration; trump
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Tens of billions of dollars? What's that, a weekend's worth of welfare & food stamps?
1 posted on 07/23/2015 4:33:18 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Works for Israel.


2 posted on 07/23/2015 4:36:35 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Section 20.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why would anyone trust what NBC says on this issue?


3 posted on 07/23/2015 4:37:52 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yeah. We can drop a trillion on fantasy ‘shovel ready’ jobs that just we not as shovel ready as we thought. But the idea of spending billions on border protection...well that’s just a ludicrous thought.

Government logic at it’s best.


4 posted on 07/23/2015 4:38:11 AM PDT by ilgipper
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

American citizens are collateral damage to the pro Illegal Immigrant lobby.


5 posted on 07/23/2015 4:38:48 AM PDT by machogirl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Include in that weekend a couple dozen US lives saved and about 6,000 prevented rapes and robberies.


6 posted on 07/23/2015 4:39:05 AM PDT by bgill ( CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That’s ok with me. We should use the reparations money to pay for it and maintain the wall with the money that planned parenthood is getting from us.


7 posted on 07/23/2015 4:39:25 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
And the 21,000 border patrol agents currently on duty would be "nowhere near sufficient" to keep close surveillance on all of it, 

And how insuffient is that number when all you have is a sign that says "U.S. border. Don't cross!"?

8 posted on 07/23/2015 4:39:30 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (The 1st amendment is the voice and the 2nd is the teeth of freedom. Obama wants to knock out both.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

they’ve already allocated 700 Million to build a fence...

Where did that money go?


9 posted on 07/23/2015 4:41:18 AM PDT by Mr. K (If it is HilLIARy -vs- Jeb! then I am writing-in Palin/Cruz)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We just gave Iran $150 billion to buy weapons to use against us and Israel, so what’s the big deal?


10 posted on 07/23/2015 4:41:29 AM PDT by Old Yeller (Civil rights are for civilized people.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

All it would take is a pair of chain-link fences. With a minefield in the middle.


11 posted on 07/23/2015 4:41:35 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’d say that would be money well spent.


12 posted on 07/23/2015 4:42:18 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Falcon 105)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sounds like an American Jobs program.


13 posted on 07/23/2015 4:42:22 AM PDT by McGruff (Eat a snickers...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

There’s 10 agents per mile- sounds like more than enough...

And with the money will save NOT PAYING FOR ILLEGALS we can afford to hire more


14 posted on 07/23/2015 4:42:59 AM PDT by Mr. K (If it is HilLIARy -vs- Jeb! then I am writing-in Palin/Cruz)
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To: PapaBear3625

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


15 posted on 07/23/2015 4:43:26 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We’ll save that in no time by not having to dish out “entitlements” to foreign nationals.


16 posted on 07/23/2015 4:44:39 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (What our intelligence agencies really need is a little intelligence.)
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To: Mr. K

We could recruit an American Foreign Border Legion from friendly countries to guard it.


17 posted on 07/23/2015 4:44:49 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Trump said that in his plan, Mexico would pay for the fence.


18 posted on 07/23/2015 4:46:20 AM PDT by 2001convSVT (Going Galt as fast as I can.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It is estimated that illegal aliens cost us $130 billion a year. This doesn’t include the human and financial costs of criminal alien crime beyond incarceration costs.


19 posted on 07/23/2015 4:47:31 AM PDT by kabar
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Eliminate Government intervention in HealthCare, the Deptartments of Education, Energy, and HUD, and you can not only have a Big Fence, but a Moat full of Crocodiles and Pirhanas.


20 posted on 07/23/2015 4:47:45 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Ob)
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