My idea of border security is not only to build an electrified high barb wire topped fence, but also to create a 20 mile wide military base reaching from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California and move most of our miltary bases to this zone.
There are military bases already in the border states. The use of military personnel makes sense and it would provide good training. How much of our efforts in Iraq are the control of insurgents from border nations like Iran? Providing boots on the ground from them would be a way to go.
They could also try out and get training in new technology which would help in other areas of warfare.