I have long advocated a relatively inexpensive addition to border security: bounties paid to Mexicans in Mexico, to inform us of non-Mexicans trying to cross our border.
It doesn’t have to be a large amount of money. Say $50 for an ordinary non-Mexican, $100 for a dangerous felon, $500 to an ordinary terrorist, and a jackpot of $10,000 for particularly dangerous terrorists. Payable only when they are captured.
When they give information they are given a random seven digit number as their password. If it is good info resulting in a bust, a pay master visits Mexico, and when given that password will give the informant an envelope.
Even $50, tax free, looks like big money south of the border, and $10k is winning the lottery. Plus there is no one to shake them down, so it is all theirs.
With thousands of greedy eyes watching the border, it would be air tight to foreigners. And the whole program could be paid for with donations.
We Should export prisoners from US prisons to Mexican prisons.
It will yield 2 benefits.
(1) Billions saved for tax payers. Mexican prisons cost 1/10th of US prisons on average, per prisoner.
(2) After experiencing time in Mexican prisons, criminals will give up crime.