In many stretchs along the River there you can be across in just a few minutes.
I see a lot of folks on this thread calling for closed borders, but I tend to think they're only discussing the north and south borders of CONUS, and forgetting all the shorelines, ports, and waterways...not to mention Alaska, Hawaii, etc.
Frankly, I don't think even the Chinese have enough human beings to patrol all those miles of border 24/7/365, plus find, check and deport everyone not born here, and keep them from getting back...
They act like it's just Mexico and Canadian land borders, and that's wrong. In addition, there are a lot of islands and territories, am I right? Thinking of the Florida Keys, here...
I mean, good grief! Americans have to be open, because that's the only choice we have. Anyone who wants to get into this country and stay, can get into this country and stay, with the possible exception of Elian Gonzalez.
It's up to Americans to protect ourselves. Why don't we know that? It isn't the President's job to put an impenetrable fence around the entire US, the airports, the shipyards, the oceans--that's impossible. People who call for that, are just deluding themselves, imho.