[Americanexpat]

How many troops would it take to secure a border that long?

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Exactly. There are not enough. You would have to place them at least within sight of each other to be somewhat effective and then they would have to work shifts. However, a good wall, with enough troops to properly patrol it with vehicles will do the job. Then we would have to deport the illegals already here which would be one hell of a job too. Once that was done the money saved the first year from over taxed hospitals and schools and social programs would pay for the wall.

[El Gato]

Exactly. There are not enough. You would have to place them at least within sight of each other to be somewhat effective and then they would have to work shifts

No you wouldn't. They'd use UAV's for surveillance and on call quick reaction teams for interdiction. Or they could just use Apaches and F-16s, but I don't think we're ready to go that far yet.