Posted on 08/22/2005 6:09:02 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
Des Moines, August 22nd, 2005- The debate over how to control illegal immigration takes center stage today at a forum here in Des Moines. Iowa Congressman Steve King is sponsoring this forum.
Not only are some of his ideas controversial, so are some of the guests-- including the leader of the Minuteman project. It's a volunteer group that began patrolling the U.S.- Mexico border in April looking for illegal immigrants trying to cross over. The group does not have any official sanctioning from U.S. immigration officials.
Congressman King has his own ideas on how to solve the border issue, "I suggest this. Build a fence- it's cheap, you can build it 10 foot high with barb wire on top for 680 million dollars. We spend six billion a year just incarcerating criminal aliens against those who come in and commit crimes against Americans. This would make the best return."
Many Latino organizations are promising to meet ideas like the Minuteman project.and a fence around the U.S., with fierce opposition. Today's forum will also focus on immigration's impact on homeland security as well as on the economy.
Just add the razor wire.
Several miles south of the DMZ. South Korea does not have a real problem with an invasion of illegal immigrants from the north.
Ah, well, that is a different story. Yeah, I agree, something of those specs would definitely work. It'd cost a lot more than what's listed in the article, but the direct negative financial impact (not including the costs of the crime and disease they bring) would more than offset construction costs.
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Heh. Gonna need a lot stronger fence than this so lets do it! Spend 10 billion on a Mexico border fence and it will definitely hold back the invading hordes.
FYI
the Israeli fence is costing $2 million per kilometer.
http://www.peacenow.org/briefs.asp?rid=&cid=187
2000 miles of US-Mexico Border = approx 3219km x $2 million per kilometer = $6.438 billion construction costs assuming you need to build the fence the entire length. That figure does not include an obvious discounting for the sheer volume of work involved.
How about a new fresh water shipping canal from Texas to California stocked with pirana.
How do you say " no entrty" or the best spanish equivalent in spanish?
Latino first, American second (or third or fourth or last)...
ping!
-dennisw has a more accurate cost of a border wall/fence.
(As much as 10 billion)
Due to the terrain along the Mexican border, the cost would probably be higher then Israels 2 million per kilometer. Some areas of the Israeli fence cost as much as 4 million per kilometer.
Nevertheless, even at 10 billion, it would still be worth the cost.
But the argument of chain link vs concrete wall? Anything would be better then what we have at present:
.
A fence is a great idea. In the meantime every illegal caught should receive a mandatory jail sentence. We should deduct both the cost for capturing the illegal and incarceration from the aid we give to that country. The corrupt officials from Mexico, etc... will then act to help stem the tide of illegal immigration. People react when you hurt them in their wallets.
-Make the fence electric and you've got yourself a deal.-
Heh-heh. If they add a couple of land mines, I'm on board, too!
Since everyone is throwing around ball park figures for construction of a fence and/or a wall to secure our borders, let's not forget the Border Patrol. The BP needs serious beefing up and the feds needs to start that process NOW. If you open employment hiring to experienced law enforcement officials and start them out at say $50K/year with benefits, you would get many folks applying who could get the job done. Double the amount of BP agents from the current level of 10K to 20K and you'd spend $500-million/year. Increase to 30K and it would cost $1-billion. If you went to 100K BP agents, a ten fold increase, that would cost the American taxpayer $5-billion. When you consider that the recent highway bill the President signed into law contained some $30-billion in pork barrel projects, increasing the size of the BP ten fold and building a wall on our borders is really a drop in the political bucket.
Come spend a couple days and nights on the border from Columbus, NM, west. Then let's talk about how to stop a hemorrhage with band aids, and about the merits of a Berlin Wall across the New Mexico border.
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