[ovrtaxt]

I'll post some more numbers here shortly- just for cost comparison purposes.

[x1stcav]

About like your typical rural Interstate cost?

[ovrtaxt]

The American Hospital Association reported that its member facilities provided $21 billion in uncompensated health-care services last year. While not all those costs can be attributed to undocumented aliens, new Census data show that non-citizens are, by far, this country's largest group of uninsured residents — 43 percent of the total.

[verity]

Must be a union contract.

[ovrtaxt]

Another good overview.

[FreedomPoster]

Probably half of that is for lawyers to fight environmental impact nonsense.

Overall cost of a wall, in the grand scheme of FedGov things, is peanuts.

[Darkwolf377]

I'm surprised Newsmax has actually admitted Bush has asked for 1000 more agents AND money towards walls/fences. Shocking.

I've noticed some of the static here has quieted as people realize that, indeed, the President IS giving us some of what we want. There's more to do of course, but reasonable people can see he has made great progress towards what we want.

[denydenydeny]

Compared with the Katrina "rebuilding," it's the greatest bargain in American history since the Alaska purchase.

[kittymyrib]

If India can afford 1500 miles of electrified razor wire along its border with Bangladesh, we should be able to afford a real wall. The federal government wastes more than this $3 billion in a month on Medicare fraud, and we never read about that in the msm.

[ovrtaxt]

In 1996 the California governor's office estimated that the state was spending $2 billion per year to school 380,000 illegal immigrant children. That's $5,263 per kid. Extrapolate that to LOW estimates of 10,000,000 illegals, roughly half are kids, and you have a cost of 26 billion.

[starbase]

That's $568.18 per foot.

What a complete llllllliiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!

I can prove the materials and labor do not cost that much for that amount of built wall.

[Labyrinthos]

The only solution that will work, according to a number of anti-immigration activist groups, is to build the fence along the entire 1,952-mile border.

Maybe not the only solution, but certainly the best solution IMO. I don't care if the total cost is $20 Billion. I'm sure there are enough $250 million "bridges to nowhere" in the Federal budget to cover a large chunk of the cost. Regardless, the fence will pay for itself a thousand times over.

[GonzoGOP]

"The only solution that will work, according to a number of anti-immigration activist groups, is to build the fence along the entire 1,952-mile border."

I couldn't agree more. Look at it this way if the wall costs $3 million per mile and there are approximately 2,000 miles of border it would cost just under six billion dollars to build a wall along the entire border. We spend close to $21 billion on health care for illegals every year. Using their numbers the wall covering every mile of the border could be built and if the wall cuts illegal immigration by only 30% we would break even in only one year . If its cuts immigration by only 1-2% we could break even in a decade.

[leadpenny]

$3.7B? Were're spending that amount or more every week in Iraq, so what's the big deal?

[stopem]

"The federal government will have to reach deep into taxpayers' pockets if it goes ahead with plans to build a security wall along the U.S.-Mexican border" –

Whatever the cost will be is peanuts in comparison to the BILLIONS the illegals are costing taxpayers now!!

[Jackknife]

The MinuteMen can do it cheaper ......

[kabar]

Did we worry about costs when we fought WWII? Our national sovereignty is at stake. We are being invaded by up to 160,000 people a month (with 120,000 being caught and returned). We spent $11 to $18 billion annually enforcing the no-fly zones against Iraq for almost a decade. The cost issue is a red herring tossed out by the opponents of the House bill. Their biggest concern is really not about the costs, but the fact that the fences might work.

[ovrtaxt]

Here's a very good article on immigration costs- legal vs. illegal, that didn't get much attention. A very good economic argument against amnesty for those already here.

[Kakaze]

" At $3.7 billion, the 700-mile fence would cost $5.28 million per mile – or an astounding $1,000 per foot."

What price do we place on preservation of culture and our childrens future?

I'd say its worth every penny.

[Raycpa]

SUMMARY

Forty-four States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have constructed highway traffic noise barriers; six States and the District of Columbia have not. The most notable trend in highway traffic noise barrier construction is that SDOTs spend more than $100 million of highway program funds annually for this form of noise abatement. Starting in 1992, SDOTs have averaged spending more than $139 million per year. Since the first highway traffic noise barrier was constructed, sixty-five percent (65%) of all spending has been for Type I projects, and twenty-nine percent (29%) for Type II projects.

Most barriers have been made from concrete or masonry block, range from 9-17 feet in height, and average $16-21 per square foot in cost.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/noise/barrier/tintro.htm

Note: Keep in mind the cost per foot above is not linear cost, while the cost per foot quoted above is linear cost.

[DoctorMichael]

Cheap at half the price.